1. A line, mark, smear, or band differentiated by color or texture from its surroundings. 2. An inherent, often contrasting quality: “There was a streak of wildness in him” (Olga Carlisle). 3. A ray or flash of light: the first streaks of dawn; a streak of lightning.4.Informala. A brief run or stretch, as of luck. b. An unbroken series, as of wins or losses. 5.Mineralogy The color of the fine powder produced when a mineral is rubbed against a hard surface. Used as a distinguishing characteristic. 6.Botany Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems. 7.Microbiology A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium.
VERB:
Inflected forms: streaked, streak·ing, streaks
TRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To mark with streaks: rain streaking the pavement.2. To lighten (strands of hair) with a chemical preparation. 3.Microbiology To inoculate in order to produce a streak.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
1. To form streaks. 2. To be or become streaked. 3. To move at high speed; rush. 4. To run naked in public, especially as a prank.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English streke, line, from Old English strica. See streig- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:
streaker —NOUN
SYNONYMS:
streak, strain2, vein 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.
str
k
er —NOUN
