Harper's Weekly, XXXIII

571. stroke2 (strōk), v. t.; pret. and pp. stroked, ppr. stroking. [Also dial. (Sc.) strake, straik; She straiked my head, and she kembed my hair. Alison Gro (Child's Ballads, I. 168). And then another pause; and then, Stroking his beard, he said again. Long fellow , Wayside Inn, Second Interlude. 2. Hence, figuratively, to soothe; flatter; pacify; encourage. [Now prov. Eng.] Such smooth soft language as each line Might stroake an angry god, or stay Jove's thunder. Carew, To my Rival. 3. To affect in some way by a rubbing action. What a slovenly little villi an art thou! Why dost thou not stroke up thy hair? Beau , and Fl . , Woman-Hater, v. 5. The ancient Chinese were very proud of the Hair of their Heads, letting it grow very long, and stroking it back with their Hands curiously. Dampier, Voyages, I. 407. 4. In masonry, to work the face of (a stone) ne) in such a manner as to produce a sort of fluted surface. To stroke the wrong way (of the hair, expre ed or implied), to go against the grain of; ruffle or annoy, as by opposition: from the irritating effect on an animal, especially a cat, of rubbing up the fur by stroking it in the direction opposite to the way it lies. stroke2 (strōk), n. [ His white-man'd steeds, that bow'd beneath the yoke, He cheer'd to courage with a gentle stroke. Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Meta morph., xii. 108. stroket. An obsolete form of the preterit of strike. stroke-gear (strōk'ger), n. In machine-tools having a reciprocating cutter, that part of the gearing by which the forward and backward strokes of the tool-slide are effected-the return stroke being usually made with much greater velocity than the cutting stroke. stroke-hole (str ok'hol), n. In golf, a hole at which, in handicapping, a stroke is given. stroke-oar (strōkōr), n. 1. The aftermost oar in a rowboat, to the strokes of which those of the other oars must be conformed.-2. The oarsman who handles the stroke-oar; the strokes man. stroke-oarsman (strōkōrz'man), n. One who handles the stroke-oar. In a whale-boat the stroke-oarsman is usually the lightest man of the crew. Also called after - oarsman. stroker (strō'kėr), n. [ Cures worked by Greatrix the stroker . War burton, Works, X. xxvii. 2t. A soothing flatterer; a fawning sycophant. [Rare.] What you please, Dame Polish, My lady's stroker . B. Jonson, Magnet ick Lady, iv. 1. 3. In printing , a form of wood or bone paper folder with which the layer-on or feeder strokes or brings forward separate sheets of paper to the grippers of a printing-machine. [Eng.]Stroker in, in printing , the workman who strokes or combs separate sheets of paper to the grippers of a printing-machine. [Eng.] strokes man (strōks'man), n.; pl. strokes men (-men). [