streak
(strēk)
[Middle English streke, line, from Old English strica.]
noun
- A line, mark, smear, or band differentiated by color or texture from its surroundings.
- An inherent, often contrasting quality: “There was a streak of wildness in him” (Olga Carlisle)
- A ray or flash of light: the first streaks of dawn; a streak of lightning.
- Informal
- A brief run or stretch, as of luck.
- An unbroken series, as of wins or losses.
- Mineralogy The color of the fine powder produced when a mineral is rubbed against a hard surface. Used as a distinguishing characteristic.
- Botany Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems.
- Microbiology A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium.
verb: streaked, streak·ing, streaks.
transitive verb
- To mark with streaks: rain streaking the pavement.
- To lighten (strands of hair) with a chemical preparation.
- Microbiology To inoculate in order to produce a streak.
intransitive verb
- To form streaks.
- To be or become streaked.
- To move at high speed; rush.
- To run naked in public, especially as a prank.
derivatives
- streaḱer
- noun
synonyms:
streak, strain2vein 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.
