to strike
- verb
- /straɪk/
- Informal
- During our hike, we struck gold and found a beautiful waterfall that was not marked on any maps.
But if you're willing to fail, then sometimes you, you strike it rich.
- But if you're willing to fail, then sometimes you, you strike it rich.
- These guys have struck gold with their Ultimate Beard Growth supplement.
- Then if me mum or me wife says that something isn't funny, I know I've struck gold.
- And then I, I struck lucky with the work I just ended up getting, as I say, Wembley.
- And this poor guy in a yellow, I remember he was wearing a yellow suit and he was talking to her all night long and thought that he had struck gold.
Examples
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I think we just struck gold.
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You have struck oil, madam!
-
Another asked, "Will I go to New York or will I strike oil?"
Fiction book (1990) -
Anything else strike you as odd when you were reading this story right there?
-
Hey, I think I struck oil.
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Have we struck gold or what?
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From another man who struck it rich.
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I repeat, we've struck oil.
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The buyer drilled a half dozen more wells and, of course, struck oil.
Fiction book (1998) -
Uh, I was sitting in this coffee house in Pondicherry one afternoon, mourning my loss... when this old man at the table next to me struck up a conversation.
Synonyms
To find out about something for the first time, often by chance
To find something or someone by chance
To find something by chance
To find something or someone by chance
To find something or someone by accident while doing something else
Find a person or thing by chance
To find or think of something by chance
To find something by chance
Find someone or something by accident
To find something by chance
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
Do something quickly to use a good chance before it ends
- Informal
To criticize or take advantage of someone when they are weak
Phrasal Verbs
To start a conversation, friendship, or activity with someone in a quick informal way
Compounds
A sudden flash of electricity from the sky that hits something or a sudden strong idea
- Specialized
Area over home plate between a batter's knees and shoulders where a pitch must pass to be called a strike
- NSFW
A surprise attack with nuclear weapons to destroy an enemy's ability to fight back
- Specialized
An attack launched early to stop a threat that is about to happen, for example in war or computer attacks
A person who plans and speaks for workers who stop work for better pay or conditions
- Jargon
A stoppage of work by workers to make managers follow safety and other workplace rules
- Formal
A military action to stop an expected attack by an enemy before it happens
- Specialized
A break in the ground where two rock blocks move past each other horizontally
How Unexpected
Surface Forms
Etymology
Strike in the sense 'find by chance' comes from miners 'striking' gold by hitting the right spot in the ground, so to strike something is to find it suddenly or by luck.