stroke

stroke    
    1 stroke   strokes   stroking   stroked
If you stroke someone or something, you move your hand slowly and gently over them.
   Carla, curled up on the sofa, was smoking a cigarette and stroking her cat.
   She walked forward and embraced him and stroked his tousled white hair.
VB
= caress
    2 stroke   strokes
If someone has a stroke, a blood vessel in their brain bursts or becomes blocked, which may kill them or make them unable to move one side of their body.
   He had a minor stroke in 1987, which left him partly paralysed.
N-COUNT: usu sing

    3 stroke   strokes
The strokes of a pen or brush are the movements or marks that you make with it when you are writing or painting.
   Fill in gaps by using short, upward strokes of the pencil.
N-COUNT: usu pl

    4 stroke   strokes
When you are swimming or rowing, your strokes are the repeated movements that you make with your arms or the oars.
   I turned and swam a few strokes further out to sea.
   The boatmen accompany the stroke of their oars with the sound of their voices.
N-COUNT: usu pl

    5 stroke   strokes
A swimming stroke is a particular style or method of swimming.
   She spent hours practicing the breast stroke.
N-COUNT: usu sing, supp N

    6 stroke   strokes
The strokes of a clock are the sounds that indicate each hour.
   On the stroke of 12, fireworks suddenly exploded into the night.
N-COUNT

    7 stroke   strokes
In sports such as tennis, baseball, cricket, and golf, a stroke is the action of hitting the ball.
   Compton was sending the ball here, there, and everywhere with each stroke.
N-COUNT

    8 stroke
A stroke of luck or good fortune is something lucky that happens.
   It didn't rain, which turned out to be a stroke of luck.
N-SING: a N of n

    9 stroke
A stroke of genius or inspiration is a very good idea that someone suddenly has.
   At the time, his appointment seemed a stroke of genius.
N-SING: a N of n

    10 stroke
If something happens at a stroke or in one stroke, it happens suddenly and completely because of one single action.
   The disease  wiped out 40 million rabbits at a stroke.
   How can Britain reduce its prison population in one stroke?
PHR: PHR after v
= at one go
    11 stroke
If someone does not do a stroke of work, they are very lazy and do no work at all. (INFORMAL)
   I never did a stroke of work at college.
PHR: with brd-neg, V inflects  emphasis

Collins Dictionary