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Glite Dictionary
to strike the tent

to strike the tent

8.1
Take down a tent when leaving or ending an event
  • phrasal verb
  • Archaic
translation icon : desmontar la tienda
  • Before leaving the campsite, it was time to strike the tent and clean up the area.

Examples

  • The only thing I gathered, while I was tying up my pirogue, was that we had to strike the tent and go to the Amber Hole, a cave where—according to this guy—

    Fiction book (2001)

  • After the last day of the festival, we need to strike the tent and pack everything up.

  • As the sun began to set, the campers decided to strike the tent and head home.

Synonyms

to blow
vsto strike the tent
  • Informal
175 8.4

To leave a place quickly or suddenly

is a more general leaving or ending, not necessarily quick or informal
to walk out
vsto strike the tent
  • Informal
112 3.4

Leave a place suddenly because you are angry or protesting

is a general leaving that does not imply protest or anger
to walk off
vsto strike the tent
  • Informal
37 3.5

To leave a place suddenly to show you are angry or upset

is a general leaving without necessarily showing annoyance
to break camp
vsto strike the tent
4 3.4

Pack your things and leave a camp at the end of your stay

is used more broadly for leaving or ending events beyond outdoor stays
to fold one's tent
vsto strike the tent
8.8

To stop trying and leave a situation quietly

is a general leaving that does not imply retreat or defeat

Antonyms

to stay
∞ 1.0

To remain in one place and not leave

Surface Forms

strike the tent infinitive
striking the tent present participle
strikes the tent third person singular
struck the tent past
struck the tent past participle

Morphology

strike + the + tent

The literal sense 'to take down a tent' follows directly from combining 'strike' (remove or dismantle) with 'tent' (a collapsible shelter), so the basic meaning is compositionally transparent. The extended figurative sense 'to leave or bring an event to an end' is a predictable metonymic extension of breaking camp and is cross-linguistically common, so learners who know the constituents can generally infer the usage.

Etymology

Strike the tent comes from camping and army life, where to strike a tent meant to pull up the pegs and fold the tent so it was gone. One clear picture is people packing the tent to move on, so the phrase now means 'to take down a tent' or 'to leave' or 'to end an event'.