strike up en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Meanings
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(idiomatic, transitive) To start something with somebody else, such as a conversation or relationship.
He struck up a friendship with Redford that was to last for many years.
To make him feel welcome, she struck up a conversation with the newly arrived guest.
He repeated to Chad what he had been saying in the court to Waymarsh; how there was no doubt whatever that his sister would find the latter a kindred spirit, no doubt of the alliance, based on an exchange of views, that the pair would successfully strike up.
1903 September 28, Henry James, The Ambassadors, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC:
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(ergative, idiomatic, intransitive) To start something, usually playing live music.
The bride entered the church just as the "Wedding March" struck up.
The band struck up and everyone started to dance.
Strike vp the Drum and martch corragiouſly, Fortune her ſelfe dooth ſit vpon our Creſts.
c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:
- To raise (as sheet metal), in making dishes, pans, etc., by blows or pressure in a die.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| strikes up | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| struck up | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| struck up | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| striking up | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| stricken up | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | archaic, rare | lexicographic |
Translations (7)
it incominciare (to start something, e.g. a relationship) · es crear (to start something, e.g. a relationship) · it far partire (to start something, e.g. a relationship) · da stifte [venskab] (to start something, e.g. a relationship) · de schließen [Freundschaft] (to start something, e.g. a relationship) · es entablar (to start something, e.g. a relationship) · fr entamer (to start something, e.g. a relationship)