- 1a period of time when an organized group of employees of a company stops working because of a disagreement over pay or conditions the bus drivers' strike a strike by teachers an unofficial/a one-day strike Air traffic controllers are threatening to go on strike. Half the workforce is now (out) on strike. The train drivers have voted to take strike action. The student union has called for a rent strike (= a refusal to pay rent as a protest). see general strike, hunger strike
attack - 2a military attack, especially by aircraft dropping bombs an air strike They decided to launch a pre-emptive strike.
- 3[usually singular] an act of hitting or kicking something or someone His spectacular strike in the second half made the score 2–0. see bird strike, lightning strike in baseball
- 4an unsuccessful attempt to hit the ball More Aboutbaseball
- There are nine players on a baseball team. One team is at bat and the other team fields. The pitcher stands on the pitcher's mound and pitches (= throws) the ball to a batter from the other team, who stands next to home plate. The catcher stands behind home plate and catches and returns balls that were not batted to the pitcher.
- The batter tries to score runs (= points) by hitting the ball and running around the four bases, which are at each corner of a 90-foot square called the diamond. The batter can stop at any of the bases and then run on to the next base when the next batter hits the ball. If a batter hits the ball so far forward that it goes out of the field, this is a home run, and the batter is allowed to touch all four bases and automatically gains a point for himself or herself as well as any batter who was standing on a base.
- If the batter tries to hit the ball but misses it, this is called a strike. After three strikes, the batter is out and the next batter comes to bat. The expressions three strikes and you're out and the three strikes rule comes from baseball, and is used to describe a law that says that people who commit three crimes will automatically go to prison.
- If the batter hits the ball behind or anywhere outside first or third base, this is a foul ball and counts as a strike, unless the batter is already on two strikes. If the ball is pitched outside a certain area (= the strike zone) above home plate and the batter does not try to hit it, this is called a ball. If the batter gets four balls, they automatically get to go to first base.
- A batter can also be out if one of the fielders catches the ball after the batter has hit it and it has not touched the ground; if a fielder picks up or catches the ball and steps on one of the bases as the batter is running toward it; or if a fielder tags (= touches) a batter with the ball as the batter is running between bases.
- When the team in the field has had three outs (= gotten three batters out), the teams switch places and the team in the field is now up (= has a turn at bat). One turn of batting for each team is called an inning. One game usually consists of nine innings, at the end of which the team with the most runs is the winner.
in bowling - 5a situation in tenpin bowling when a player knocks down all the pins with the first ball throw
- 6(especially in football) a perfectly thrown ball He threw a strike to Davis for a touchdown. discovery of oil
- 7[usually singular] a sudden discovery of something valuable, especially oil
- 8strike (against somebody/something) a bad thing or action that damages someone/something's reputation The amount of fuel that this car uses is a big strike against it. Idioms
of workers
used to describe a law that says that people who commit three crimes will automatically go to prison From baseball, in which a batter who misses the ball three times is out.
Check pronunciation: strike