Link Centre Dictionary

streak

UK/stɹiːk/ US/ˈstrik/ fairly common uk
noun (4) verb (3)

noun

1.

an unbroken series of events

  • “had a streak of bad luck”
  • “Nicklaus had a run of birdies”
Synonyms
2.

a distinctive characteristic

  • “he has a stubborn streak”
  • “a streak of wildness”
3.

a marking of a different color or texture from the background

Synonyms
4.

a sudden flash (as of lightning)

verb

1.

move quickly in a straight line

  • “The plane streaked across the sky”
2.
3.

mark with spots or blotches of different color or shades of color as if stained

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English streke, from Old English strica, from Proto-Germanic *strikiz, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“line”). Related to North Frisian strijck, Old Saxon striki, Middle Low German streke, Low German streek, Danish streg, Swedish streck, Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk strek, Icelandic stryk, strykr, Dutch streek, Afrikaans streek, Old High German strih, German Strich, Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌺𐍃 (striks).

Phrases

  • blue streak
  • compulsive streak
  • fall streak
  • hot streak
  • learning streak
  • long streak of misery
  • losing streak
  • lucky streak
  • Mallen streak
  • talk a blue streak
  • winning streak

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.