Dictionary

ten-strike en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈtɛn.stɹaɪk/

Etymology

From ten + strike.

Meanings

1. (dated) A strike; the knocking down of all ten pins with one delivery of the ball.
   • I started to tell him I warn't studying Jeff Middleton, but jest then a lot of whooping bust out in the bowling alley like somebody had made a ten-strike or something, and here come six men busting into the bar whooping and yelling and slapping one of 'em on the back. 1936, Robert E. Howard, Evil Deeds at Red Cougar:
2. (US, dated, informal) Any quick, decisive stroke or act.
   • At his lowest ebb, when his black suit was in pawn, he made a ten-strike—or so it seemed to him—in a prize contest arranged by the County Committee of the Republican Party. There were three branches of the contest, and he entered them all, laughing at himself bitterly the while in that he was driven to such straits to live. 1908 September – 1909 September, Jack London, chapter 29, in Martin Eden, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published September 1909, →OCLC:
   • GREYE LA SPINA werewolf serial, Invaders From the Dark, seems to have scored a ten-strike with the readers of Weird Tales, to judge by the letters that have poured in to The Eyrie 1925 July 14, Weird Tales, page 136:
3. (qualifier:twelve-step programs, slang) A perfectly chosen word or phrase; an exact bit of wording that “solves” a problem (especially in adapting or drafting principles, slogans, or statements).
   • ...when the founders of Narcotics Anonymous ... made a tenstrike ... from “powerless over drugs” to “powerless over our addiction”. 1985 November 14, World Service Board of Trustees, Some thoughts regarding our relationship to A.A.:

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