strike v Cp OED ~ v 68 'to come upon, reach' U S & Colonial (1798-) for sense 1; OED 46 e 'bewitched' dial, EDD struck 2 Ir for sense 2; OED 80 h: strike in (Nfld: 1888) for sense 3; OED v 57 (1780 quot), EDD 18; DC struck Nfld (1944), salt struck Nfld (1957) for sense 4.
1 Of a sealing vessel, to reach the seal herds on the ice-floes.
1882 TALBOT 16 We left port in the forenoon of one day and struck the ice on the following morning ... probably twenty miles from the mouth of Bonavista Bay. 1905 CHAFE 7 It was known that, as a consequence of the steamers striking the seals early in the spring, large numbers of immature seals were brought in. 1924 ENGLAND 80 The Thetis and Diana dogged our every 'jife' and 'cut.' They spied on us. Not if they could help it should Cap'n Kean steal a march on them. He, 'admiral of the fleet,' should not be allowed to strike the fat and leave them out of it. [1929] 1933 GREENLEAF (ed) 247 "Sealing Cruise of the Lone Flier": We motored until three o'clock, and then we struck the fat, / Herbert Legge picked up a seal, Claude Hawkins got a cat. 1964 BLONDAHL (ed) 75 "A Noble Fleet of Sealers": Though last to leave the Harbour she was first to strike the patch, / And by the twenty-ninth of March she'd loaded every hatch. 1979 Salt Water, Fresh Water 53 Usually the ships would get down twenty-five or thirty miles north of [Funk Island] and would strike the seals,
2 Of a fairy. to bewitch (someone). esp to cause an ailment; cp BLAST, FAIRY STRUCK.
T 50/5-64 They meet you anywhere, you know. They strike lots o' people—cripple you.
3 Of fish (or seals), to appear in coastal waters in large schools, esp in phr strike in.
1826 Edin New Phil J i, 35 As we advance northward from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the migrations of the cod assume a more decided character, and it strikes in in greater abundance. 1839 TUCKER 84 This bait is furnished by a small species of fish called capling, which strike in shore at that season of the year, and are usually followed by immense shoals of cod fish, which feed upon them. 1866 WILSON 208-9 The fishery commences about the middle of May. The first bait used is herring. These are taken in herring-nets; but the cod has not yet struck in for the shore, and is therefore only taken in small quantities. About the first of June, the caplin strikes in, and then is the Newfoundland harvest. 1884 DEMING 100 Some years ago, during an otherwise bad season, the seals 'struck in' on the ice near the Newfoundland coast while the steamers were away. Women and children, leaving the shore, engaged in the slaughter, and during a few days sixty-four thousand head were killed within a few miles of St John's. [1914] 1930 COAKER 84 On the Labrador the usual time for fishing was passed when the coast cleared, the result being that many floaters returned before the fish struck in. 1937 DEVINE 45 Skool [means] to cry warning on the coast when the herring strike in. [1964] 1979 Evening Telegram 3 July, p. 14 Squid will strike inshore in Newfoundland waters in large quantities this season. T 194/5-65 An' the fish never come there before the twenty-second of August, before the fish struck... Aha, my son, that was a hard let. That made me stomachy. 1977 BURSEY 79 Then the cod-traps must be repaired and barked to be ready to be put into the water before the fish would 'strike in.'
4 Of fish, to impregnate with salt in the curing process.
1839 TUCKER 85-6 The boats return to the vessel about nine o'clock in the morning to breakfast, put their fish on board, salt and split them, and after having fished for several days, in which time the salt has struck sufficiently into the fish first caught, they carry them on shore and spread and dry them on the rocks or temporary flakes. 1873 CARROLL 41 As soon as the Vats are erected, caulked and covered, let them be filled with strong pickle, so that when the herring is brought alongside, in place of putting them on deck, exposed to the weather, let them be deposited at once in the Pickle, and there left until properly struck, which can be easily ascertained by the stiffness of the herring. 1957 Can Geog J lv (Oct), 129 The fish were left in the stage until they became 'salt struck,' then the family removed the fish from salt. 1975 WHITELEY 345 The fish, if heavy salted, is kept in the stage until struck, that is, until salt and water are uniformly mixed throughout the fish. This process generally takes not less than twenty-one days.
5 Phr strike up: of a trap, to snap up so as to kill an animal; to release the catch on a trap.
[1770] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 74 They found the deathfalls all struck down and choked with snow; the trap in the beaverhouse struck up; and the pond flooded. [1774] ibid ii, 25 Mr Parker ... went with me to visit the traps: we found both the small ones struck up, and the others so clogged with dirt, that they could not strike up, although deer had been over three of them. 1933 MERRICK 193 As we go along the shores we come to a trap every five or ten minutes. This he unsets and hangs up on its chain stake, for he is 'striking up' his path, preparatory to going home. 1977 Inuit Land Use 151 At the end of the season, the hunter struck up his traps and left them tied together, ready for use the next year.
