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streak - 12 dictionary results
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streak

  [streek]
Use streak in a Sentence
–noun
1. a long, narrow mark, smear, band of color, or the like: streaks of mud.
2. a portion or layer of something, distinguished by color or nature from the rest; a vein or stratum: streaks of fat in meat.
3. a vein, strain, or admixture of anything: a streak of humor.
4. Informal.
a. a spell or run: a streak of good luck.
b. an uninterrupted series: The team had a losing streak of ten games.
5. a flash leaving a visible line or aftereffect, as of lightning; bolt.
6. Mineralogy. the line of powder obtained by scratching a mineral or rubbing it upon a hard, rough white surface, often differing in color from the mineral in the mass, and serving as an important distinguishing character.
7. Plant Pathology.
a. an elongated, narrow, superficial lesion on stems or leaf veins, becoming brown and necrotic.
b. any disease characterized by such lesions.
–verb (used with object)
8. to mark with a streak or streaks; form streaks on: sunlight streaking the water with gold; frost streaking the windows.
9. to lighten or color (strands of hair) for contrastive effect.
10. to dispose, arrange, smear, spread, etc., in the form of a streak or streaks: to streak cold germs on a slide for microscopic study.
–verb (used without object)
11. to become streaked.
12. to run, go, or work rapidly.
13. to flash, as lightning.
14. to make a sudden dash in public while naked, esp. as a prank.
—Idiom
15. blue streak. blue streak.
Origin:
bef. 1000; (n.) ME streke, akin to strike, OE strica stroke, line, mark; c. G Strich, Goth striks stroke, L strigil strigil; (v.) late ME streken to cross out, deriv. of the n. (akin to strike, stroke 1 )

Related forms:
streaked⋅ly  [streekt-lee, stree-kid-lee] , adverb
streakedness, noun
streaker, noun
streaklike, adjective

Synonyms:
3. cast, touch, element, trace.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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streak   (strēk)   
n.  
  1. A line, mark, smear, or band differentiated by color or texture from its surroundings.
  2. An inherent, often contrasting quality: "There was a streak of wildness in him" (Olga Carlisle).
  3. A ray or flash of light: the first streaks of dawn; a streak of lightning.
  4. Informal
    1. A brief run or stretch, as of luck.
    2. An unbroken series, as of wins or losses.
  5. Mineralogy The color of the fine powder produced when a mineral is rubbed against a hard surface. Used as a distinguishing characteristic.
  6. Botany Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems.
  7. Microbiology A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium.
v.   streaked, streak·ing, streaks

v.   tr.
  1. To mark with streaks: rain streaking the pavement.
  2. To lighten (strands of hair) with a chemical preparation.
  3. Microbiology To inoculate in order to produce a streak.
v.   intr.
  1. To form streaks.
  2. To be or become streaked.
  3. To move at high speed; rush.
  4. To run naked in public, especially as a prank.

[Middle English streke, line, from Old English strica; see streig- in Indo-European roots.]
streak'er n.
Synonyms: These nouns denote an inherent, often unexpected quality, as in a person's character: a streak of humor; a strain of melancholy; a vein of stubbornness.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Streak

Streak\, v. t. [Cf. Stretch, Streek.] To stretch; to extend; hence, to lay out, as a dead body. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

Streak

Streak\, n. [OE. streke; akin to D. streek a line, stroke, G. strich, AS. strica, Sw. strek, Dan. streg, Goth. stricks, and E. strike, stroke. See Strike, Stroke, n., and cf. Strake.]

1. A line or long mark of a different color from the ground; a stripe; a vein.

What mean those colored streaks in heaven? --Milton.

2. (Shipbuilding) A strake.

3. (Min.) The fine powder or mark yielded by a mineral when scratched or rubbed against a harder surface, the color of which is sometimes a distinguishing character.

4. The rung or round of a ladder. [Obs.]

Streak

Streak\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Streaked; p. pr. & vb. n. Streaking.]

1. To form streaks or stripes in or on; to stripe; to variegate with lines of a different color, or of different colors.

A mule . . . streaked and dappled with white and black. --Sandys.

Now streaked and glowing with the morning red. --Prior.

2. With it as an object: To run swiftly. [Colloq.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : streak
Spanish: raya, veta, filón,
German: der Streif(en),
Japanese: 筋
More Translations »

streak  (n.)
O.E. strica "line of motion, stroke of a pen" (related to strican "pass over lightly," see strike), from P.Gmc. *strikon (cf. M.L.G. streke "stroke, line," O.H.G., Ger. strich, Goth. striks "stroke, line"), from PIE base *streig- (see strigil). Sense of "long, thin mark" is first found 1567. Meaning "a temporary run (of luck)" is from 1843.

streak  (v.)
1768, "to go quickly, to rush, run at full speed," respelling (by association with streak (n.)) of streek "to go quickly" (c.1380), originally "to stretch oneself" (c.1250), a northern M.E. variant of stretch (v.). Streaking "running naked in public" first recorded 1973.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: 1streak
Pronunciation: 'strEk
Function: noun
1 : a usually irregular line or stripe —see PRIMITIVE STREAK
2 : inoculum implanted (as with a needle drawn across the surface) in a line on asolid medium

Main Entry: 2streak
Function: transitive verb
: to implant (inoculum) in a line on a solid medium
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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streak (strēk)
n.
A line, stripe, smear, or band differentiated by color or texture from its surroundings.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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streak   (strēk)  Pronunciation Key 
  1. The characteristic color of a mineral after it has been ground into a powder. Because the streak of a mineral is not always the same as its natural color, it is a useful tool in mineral identification.
  2. A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium. Also called streak plate.
  3. Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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streak

see like greased lightning (a blue streak); talk someone's arm off (a blue streak); winning streak.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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