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Glite Dictionary
💬 To start talking 🎶 To start music
to strike up

to strike up

4 4.4
To start playing a song, usually by a band or group
  • phrasal verb
  • /straɪk ʌp/
translation icon : empezar a tocar
  • As they stepped onto the wooden floor, the orchestra struck up the opening bars of a waltz.
  • band struck up
  • strike up a tune
  • orchestra struck up

Out on the moon is for Lift your open head, strike up the band and make the fireflies dance till the moon sparkly.

Examples

  • The procession to the courtyard begins when a brass band strikes up, accompanied by singing and shouting.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Before she could tell me anything else, the deejay struck up "Good Times."

  • Strike up the band, boys.

    Just Getting Started (2017)

  • Someone would strike up a song, and the valley would ring with the sound of many voices.

    How Green Was My Valley (1941)

  • On the sun deck above, the company band struck up "Stars and Stripes Forever."

    Fiction book (1992)

  • In the park kiosk, a military band struck up a march.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The conductor turned away again, and the band struck up 'Good King Wenceslas.'

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The band strikes up the "Wedding March" as Billie and her father walk down the aisle.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The Irish ballad ends, and Lawrence Welk's Champagne Orchestra strikes up a lively polka.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The procession to the courtyard begins when a brass band strikes up, accompanied by singing and shouting.

Synonyms

to beat out
vsto strike up
2 3.6

Make a rhythm by hitting something repeatedly, like a drum

is used for starting music rather than steady rhythmic production
to sound off
vsto strike up
1 5.5

To begin to play music or make a sound to mark a start

is used when a group or band begins playing together
to kick out the jams
vsto strike up
  • Slang
1 9.3

Play loud, energetic music to make people excited

is about starting to play rather than loud energizing performance
to thump out
vsto strike up
1 7.0

To play a strong, repeated beat by hitting an instrument like a drum

is about beginning to play rather than strong repeated striking
to pipe up
vsto strike up
  • Informal
6.1

To start to play music or sing suddenly

is used for a group start that is planned rather than sudden

Antonyms

to hang up one's fiddle
  • Archaic
9.6

To stop doing an activity, especially to stop playing music for good

How Quickly

to burst out
9 3.3
to strike up
4 4.4
to break into
50 4.0

Surface Forms

strike up infinitive
striking up present participle
strikes up third person singular
struck up past
struck up past participle

Morphology

strike + up

The meaning 'to begin to play music or start singing' is directly derivable from 'strike' (to produce a sound by hitting) plus the particle 'up' which commonly signals the beginning or initiation of an action. This verb+particle composition follows a standard, cross-linguistic pattern (e.g. 'start' + noun) and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Strike up for music comes from the picture of a band leader hitting an instrument or giving a sharp signal to start playing. That's why when a band strikes up a tune it means they 'begin' to play music.