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Strike up   /straɪk əp/   Listen
verb
Strike  v. t.  (past & past part. struck; pres. part. striking)  
1.
To touch or hit with some force, either with the hand or with an instrument; to smite; to give a blow to, either with the hand or with any instrument or missile. "He at Philippi kept His sword e'en like a dancer; while I struck The lean and wrinkled Cassius."
2.
To come in collision with; to strike against; as, a bullet struck him; the wave struck the boat amidships; the ship struck a reef.
3.
To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast. "They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two sideposts." "Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow."
4.
To stamp or impress with a stroke; to coin; as, to strike coin from metal: to strike dollars at the mint.
5.
To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate; to set in the earth; as, a tree strikes its roots deep.
6.
To punish; to afflict; to smite. "To punish the just is not good, nor strike princes for equity."
7.
To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or notify by audible strokes; as, the clock strikes twelve; the drums strike up a march.
8.
To lower; to let or take down; to remove; as, to strike sail; to strike a flag or an ensign, as in token of surrender; to strike a yard or a topmast in a gale; to strike a tent; to strike the centering of an arch.
9.
To make a sudden impression upon, as by a blow; to affect sensibly with some strong emotion; as, to strike the mind, with surprise; to strike one with wonder, alarm, dread, or horror. "Nice works of art strike and surprise us most on the first view." "They please as beauties, here as wonders strike."
10.
To affect in some particular manner by a sudden impression or impulse; as, the plan proposed strikes me favorably; to strike one dead or blind. "How often has stricken you dumb with his irony!"
11.
To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a stroke; as, to strike a light. "Waving wide her myrtle wand, She strikes a universal peace through sea and land."
12.
To cause to ignite; as, to strike a match.
13.
To make and ratify; as, to strike a bargain. Note: Probably borrowed from the L. foedus ferrire, to strike a compact, so called because an animal was struck and killed as a sacrifice on such occasions.
14.
To take forcibly or fraudulently; as, to strike money. (Old Slang)
15.
To level, as a measure of grain, salt, or the like, by scraping off with a straight instrument what is above the level of the top.
16.
(Masonry) To cut off, as a mortar joint, even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
17.
To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly; as, my eye struck a strange word; they soon struck the trail.
18.
To borrow money of; to make a demand upon; as, he struck a friend for five dollars. (Slang)
19.
To lade into a cooler, as a liquor.
20.
To stroke or pass lightly; to wave. "Behold, I thought, He will... strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper."
21.
To advance; to cause to go forward; used only in past participle. "Well struck in years."
To strike an attitude, To strike a balance. See under Attitude, and Balance.
To strike a jury (Law), to constitute a special jury ordered by a court, by each party striking out a certain number of names from a prepared list of jurors, so as to reduce it to the number of persons required by law.
To strike a lead.
(a)
(Mining) To find a vein of ore.
(b)
Fig.: To find a way to fortune. (Colloq.)
To strike a ledger or To strike an account, to balance it.
To strike hands with.
(a)
To shake hands with.
(b)
To make a compact or agreement with; to agree with.
To strike off.
(a)
To erase from an account; to deduct; as, to strike off the interest of a debt.
(b)
(Print.) To impress; to print; as, to strike off a thousand copies of a book.
(c)
To separate by a blow or any sudden action; as, to strike off what is superfluous or corrupt.
To strike oil, to find petroleum when boring for it; figuratively, to make a lucky hit financially. (Slang, U.S.)
To strike one luck, to shake hands with one and wish good luck. (Obs.)
To strike out.
(a)
To produce by collision; to force out, as, to strike out sparks with steel.
(b)
To blot out; to efface; to erase. "To methodize is as necessary as to strike out."
(c)
To form by a quick effort; to devise; to invent; to contrive, as, to strike out a new plan of finance.
(d)
(Baseball) To cause a player to strike out; said of the pitcher. See To strike out, under Strike, v. i.
To strike sail. See under Sail.
To strike up.
(a)
To cause to sound; to begin to beat. "Strike up the drums."
(b)
To begin to sing or play; as, to strike up a tune.
(c)
To raise (as sheet metal), in making diahes, pans, etc., by blows or pressure in a die.
To strike work, to quit work; to go on a strike.


Strike  v. i.  (past & past part. struck; pres. part. striking)  
1.
To move; to advance; to proceed; to take a course; as, to strike into the fields. "A mouse... struck forth sternly (bodily)."
2.
To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows. "And fiercely took his trenchant blade in hand, With which he stroke so furious and so fell." "Strike now, or else the iron cools."
3.
To hit; to collide; to dush; to clash; as, a hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
4.
To sound by percussion, with blows, or as with blows; to be struck; as, the clock strikes. "A deep sound strikes like a rising knell."
5.
To make an attack; to aim a blow. "A puny subject strikes At thy great glory." "Struck for throne, and striking found his doom."
6.
To touch; to act by appulse. "Hinder light but from striking on it (porphyry), and its colors vanish."
7.
To run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; as, the ship struck in the night.
8.
To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate. "Till a dart strike through his liver." "Now and then a glittering beam of wit or passion strikes through the obscurity of the poem."
9.
To break forth; to commence suddenly; with into; as, to strike into reputation; to strike into a run.
10.
To lower a flag, or colors, in token of respect, or to signify a surrender of a ship to an enemy. "That the English ships of war should not strike in the Danish seas."
11.
To quit work in order to compel an increase, or prevent a reduction, of wages.
12.
To become attached to something; said of the spat of oysters.
13.
To steal money. (Old Slang, Eng.)
To strike at, to aim a blow at.
To strike for, to start suddenly on a course for.
To strike home, to give a blow which reaches its object, to strike with effect.
To strike in.
(a)
To enter suddenly.
(b)
To disappear from the surface, with internal effects, as an eruptive disease.
(c)
To come in suddenly; to interpose; to interrupt. "I proposed the embassy of Constantinople for Mr. Henshaw, but my Lord Winchelsea struck in."
(d)
To join in after another has begun,as in singing.
To strike in with, to conform to; to suit itself to; to side with, to join with at once. "To assert this is to strike in with the known enemies of God's grace."
To strike out.
(a)
To start; to wander; to make a sudden excursion; as, to strike out into an irregular course of life.
(b)
To strike with full force.
(c)
(Baseball) To be put out for not hitting the ball during one's turn at the bat.
To strike up, to commence to play as a musician; to begin to sound, as an instrument. "Whilst any trump did sound, or drum struck up."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Strike up" Quotes from Famous Books



... awful kind of pause. Many were beginning to drop their heads and shut their eyes, in anticipation of the usual petition before a meal; some expected the music to strike up,—others, that an oration would now be ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... as good as his word, and no sooner was our meal finished than, jumping up, forgetting all his fatigue, he began dancing a real Irish jig with wonderful agility, making the music with his own voice, crying out to us, every now and then, to strike up an accompaniment. The effect was at all events very advantageous to us, for the old Rajah looked on with astonishment and approval as Paddy continued his performance. When he ceased, the chief called Smith up to him, and spoke ...
— Ben Burton - Born and Bred at Sea • W. H. G. Kingston
... authority, "is so deeply affected by this spontaneous outpouring of your good-will as to be unable to respond in words. Let us respect her natural embarrassment; let us now exhibit that proud Western chivalry which will cause her to feel perfectly at home in our midst. The orchestra will strike up, and amid the mazy whirling of the dance we will at once sink all formality, as becomes citizens of this free and boundless West, this land of gold, of sterling manhood, and womanly beauty. To slightly change the poet's lines, ...
— Bob Hampton of Placer • Randall Parrish
... horses had all been killed, and he had been sorely bruised by the falls. Sending for a cannon, he got astride of it, called up the infantry round him—the brigade of General Lestwitz—begged the drummers to strike up the Prussian march and, through the blackness of the night, started for the point where the din of battle was going ...
— With Frederick the Great - A Story of the Seven Years' War • G. A. Henty
... number had tuned up his fiddle. William Isham was his name, a great bearded fellow who hailed originally from Rochester, New York; he would sit by the hour on the tongue of his wagon playing "Oh Susannah" and other lively airs, or strike up a jig tune while Negro Joe, who had fled from slavery in Mississippi, did a double shuffle in the firelight. The children slipped away from their mothers to set peeps at the fun from the edges of the crowd or play hide and seek in the shadows of the sage-brush; there ...
— When the West Was Young • Frederick R. Bechdolt


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