streak

英文词源

streak

streak: [OE] Streak and strike are closely related. Both come from a prehistoric Germanic base *strik-, denoting ‘touch lightly’. But whereas the connotations of strike have become more violent, streak has moved semantically from the action to the effect it produced on a surface. Originally, in the Old English period, it denoted simply a ‘mark’, but by the 16th century it had narrowed down to a long thin mark. The use of the verb streak for ‘run naked through a public place’ dates from the early 1970s.
=> strike

streak (n.)

Old English strica "line of motion, stroke of a pen" (related to strican "pass over lightly"), from Proto-Germanic *strikon- (cognates: Middle Dutch streke, Dutch streek, Middle Low German streke "a stroke, line," Old High German, German strich, Gothic striks "a stroke, line"), from PIE root *streig- "to stroke, rub, press" (see strigil; also strike (v.), stroke (v.)). Sense of "long, thin mark" is first found 1560s. Meaning "a temporary run (of luck)" is from 1843.

streak (v.2)

1768, "to go quickly, to rush, run at full speed," respelling (probably by association with streak (v.1)) of streek "to go quickly" (late 14c.), originally "to stretch oneself" (mid-13c.), a northern Middle English variant of stretch (v.). Related: Streaked; streaking.

streak (v.1)

"make streaks on" (transitive), 1590s, from streak (n.). Intransitive sense of "become streaked" is from 1870. Related: Streaked; streaking.