[f. STRIKE v. + -ING1.]
1. The action of STRIKE v., in various senses.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 7389. Of his scheld a ful quartere He carff a-wey at that strikyng.
1485. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 22. His wages vjs viijd workyng about the said Ship … preparyng the strikyng of her mast.
1572. Charters, etc. Peebles (1872), 341. The counsale ordanis Robert Thomsone … to vse the stryking of the swische nychtlie to the wauche.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 250. Strucke dead at first, what needs a second striking?
1631. B. Jonson, New Inn, I. iii. It should not come, me thinkes, Vnder your cap, this veine of salt, and sharpnesse! These strikings vpon learning, now and then!
1668. Dryden, Dram. Poesie, 43. [Jonson] has allow’d a very inconsiderable time, after Catiline’s Speech, for the striking of the battle, and the return of Petreius, who is to relate the event of it to the Senate.
1820. T. Hodgson, Ess. Stereotype Printing, 104. Herhan applied this machine to the striking of his types.
1874. A. J. Ellis, Early Eng. Pronunc., IV. xi. 1329. An r made by a striking of the tongue against the teeth, gums, or roof of the mouth.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 264/2. (Curling) Striking, hitting with a stone another placed on the tee with sufficient force to drive it out of the circle.
b. with adverbs.
1530. Palsgr., 277/2. Strykyng agayne, repercussion. Strykyng togyder, collision.
1582. T. Watson, Centurie of Love, To Rdr. Virgill in expressing the striking downe of an oxe, letteth the end of his hexameter fall withall.
1619. Abp. Abbot, in Rushw., Hist. Collect. (1659), I. 12. Our striking-in will comfort the Bohemians.
1721. Mortimer, Husb. (ed. 5), I. 388. The Price for plowing of Land with us is four Shillings an Acre, for each striking of it over, two Shillings an Acre.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., II. i. ‘I don’t like that,’ said Bradley Headstone. His pupil was a little surprised by this striking-in with so sudden … an objection.
† c. An assault. Obs.
1541. Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 12 § 1. Murders, manslaughters and other malicious strikinges … commytted within the lymittes of the Kinges palace.
d. Building, Carpentry, etc. (See quot. 1842.)
1735. J. Price, Stone Br. Thames, 8. To facilitate the striking of the Centers to each Arch.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Striking, a term used to denote the draught of lines on the surface of a body;… also … the drawing of lines on the face of a piece of stuff for mortises, and cutting the shoulders of tenons…. [Also] … the act of running a moulding with a plane. The striking of a centre is the removal of the timber framing upon which an arch is built, after its completion.
1898. Daily News, 17 May, 2/6. The striking of the centering round the north light was the cause of the accident.
2. † a. ? A paralytic stroke, paralysis. Obs.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 26/2. Water of Mayflowers for the strickinge. Ibid. An excellente … Confectione, for the strikinge of the hande of God.
b. A disease in calves; also blood-striking [= G. blutschlag].
1776. Compl. Grazier (ed. 4). 21. To prevent Stricking of Calves.
1861. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XXII. I. 145. Blood-striking, or quarter-ill, is hardly known.
1887. Field, 19 Feb., 260/1. Quarter-ill or Striking.
3. attrib. and Comb., as striking force; in designations of mechanism concerned in producing the striking of a clock, as striking barrel, part, -pin, train, -weight, -wheel, -work; in names of tools or appliances used for striking (in various senses), as striking-bar, -board, -hammer, staff, wedge. Also striking-box, the metal box on a door-jamb that receives the end of the bolt of the lock when the door is locked; striking distance, the distance within which it is possible to strike a blow; Electr. (see quot. 1893); striking-earth Agric., soil for roots to strike in; striking gear, in a saw-mill (see quot.); striking-house (a) Mining (see quot.); (b) Agric. a house in which seeds, etc., are placed to ‘strike,’ before they are planted out; striking-iron, a kind of harpoon; striking knife, † (a) a heavy knife for kitchen use; (b) Leather-manuf., a triangular steel knife for scraping hides (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); (c) Carpentry, a knife for marking or scribing (cf. sense 1 d); striking-line, a harpoon line; striking magnet Electr. (see quot.); striking-plate, the metal plate against which the end of a spring-lock bolt strikes, when the door or lid is being closed; striking-plough (see quot. 1805); striking-reed Mus., a percussion reed (Stainer & Barrett); striking-ring Billiards, the D or half-circle in which a player whose ball is in hand must place it to make a stroke; striking-tache Sugar manuf. (see TACHE sb.3 1).
1850. Denison, Clock & Watch-m., 131. A pin in the *striking barrel.
1885. [Horner], Pattern Making, 68. The first *striking board, C, notched to correspond to the semi-diameter of the flange, minus half the diameter of the *striking bar, D,… will be swept over this surface.
1896. A. Morrison, Child Jago, xxxiii. 308. Josh … forced the *striking-box of the lock off its screws.
1767. B. Franklin, Of Lightning, etc. Wks. 1840, V. 415. The distance at which a body charged with this fluid will discharge itself suddenly, striking through the air into another body that is not … so highly charged, is different according to the quantity [etc.]…. This distance, whatever it happens to be between any two bodies, is called their *striking distance, as, till they come within that distance of each other, no stroke will be made.
1804. T. Jefferson, Writ. (1830), IV. 20. While fortune then places us within striking distance, let us avail ourselves of it.
1870. Daily News, 20 Dec., 3/3. The north-westward movement of Chanzy brought him within striking distance of the German Corps at Chartres.
1893. Sloane, Electr. Dict., 496. Striking distance, the distance that separates two conductors charged with electricity of different potential, when a spark starts between them.
1863. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XXIV. I. 224. It may then be laid about 2 feet deep, and 6 inches of loose *striking-earth spread upon it.
1881. Greener, Gun, 182. The various calculations respecting the *striking force of rifles.
1883. M. P. Bale, Saw-Mills, 336. *Striking gear, known also as belt gear, is an arrangement of levers for stopping or starting machinery by throwing the driving belt off or on the driving pulley.
1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars & Burtons, v. My father stepped across to the [blacksmith’s] shop for a trifle of a *striking hammer, weight eighteen pounds.
1824. Mander, Derbysh. Miner’s Gloss., 70. *Striking-house, a sheltered place where the Striker stands, either at the top or middle length of an engine.
1863. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XXIV. I. 221. In order to test the goodness of some yellow globe-seed,… I had ordered some to be … raised in a striking-house.
1817. Q. Rev., Oct., 217. Harpoons and *striking-irons.
1578. Knaresb. Wills (Surtees), I. 133. In the kitching … one *striking knyfe, one flesh axe.
1901. J. Black, Carp. & Build., Home Handicr., 15. In place of a pencil many prefer to mark the stuff across with a ‘striking knife’ (fig. 4) and try square.
1827. O. W. Roberts, Voy. Centr. Amer., 57. The fishing Indians of the coast … use them as *striking lines for securing turtle, &c.
1897. J. D. Peabody, in Outing XXIX. 470/1. The striking-line ordinarily used on the coast is three-sixteenths, medium-laid, white cotton line.
1898. Sloane, Electr. Dict. (ed. 2), 622. *Striking magnet (a) An electro-magnet used in an arc lamp to separate the carbons … so as to form or ‘strike’ the arc. (b) An electro-magnet used to ring a bell, by having a hammer attached to its armature.
1675. J. S[mith], Horol. Dial., I. ii. 10. *Striking part.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 497. The striking part of this clock.
1696. W. Derham, Artif. Clock-m., ii. 34. The Pin-wheel is 78, the *Striking-pins are 13.
1837. Hebert, Engin. & Mech. Encycl., II. 108. The patentees cause this part [sc. the bolt] to drop into a notch in the *striking plate after it has been elevated by passing over an inclined plane upon it.
1856. G. Price, Fire & Thief-proof Depositories, etc. 811. Spring locks are those in which the bolt locks itself out by coming in contact with the striking-plate.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 470. In some parts of Kent … an implement is often employed which they term a *striking plough, by which little drills or channels are formed in the ground for the reception of the seed, about ten inches distant from each other.
1875. A. J. Ellis, Helmholtz’ Sensat. Tone, App. 712. The harshness of the *striking reed is obviated in the English method of voicing.
1814. C. Jones, Hoyle’s Games Impr., 378. [Billiards.] In stringing, the striker must place his ball within the *striking ring.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. 35. His *striking staff … is about 8 foot long, almost as big as a mans Arm, at the great end, in which there is a hole to place his Harpoon in.
1830. G. R. Porter, Sugar Cane, vii. 83. The cane liquor … is transferred to the third boiler, and so on to the last,… which is called the *striking teache.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 249. Connection is made between the *striking train and the *striking work by the gathering pallet.
1834–5. Barlow, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 95/1. This acting upon the surface of the *striking wedges equal to 540 square feet gives a pressure of 140 pounds per square inch.
1844. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., VII. 246/2. The striking-wedges were of seasoned oak, well greased.
1845. G. Dodd, Brit. Manuf., IV. 189. In the Limehouse clock the going-weight is about sixty pounds, whereas the *striking-weight is a mass of iron weighing five hundred pounds.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. *Striking-Wheel, in a Clock, is that which by some is called the Pin-wheel.
