"strick" - Word of the Day from the OED

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strick, n.

SECOND EDITION 1989

(strk)  Forms: 5 stric, strek, stryche, 5-7 strik, 5, (9 Sc.) streek, 6 streeke, strycke, 6-7 stricke, 6- strick. [f. *strik- wk.-grade of the root of STRIKE v. Cf. OF. estrique (= sense 3), Pg. estriga (= sense 1).] 

    1. A bundle of broken hemp, flax, jute, etc. for heckling. Cf. STRIKE n. 2.

14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 696/12 Hic linipolus, a stric of lyne. c1440 Promp. Parv. 479/2 Streek, of flax (Kylw. A.P. linipulus). 1616 SURFL. & MARKHAM Country Farm V. xviii. 568 So you shall beate this flaxe till it handle as soft as any silke, then vnplat the strickes againe, and heckle it through the second heckle. 1673 A. WALKER Lees Lachrymans 8 The Blaze, a lock or strik of Flax, which gives but one flash, and dyes. 1688 HOLME Armoury III. 106/2 A Head of Flax, is twelve Stricks tied up to make a Bunch. A Strick, is about ten handfulls [of hemp or flax] made up together in a head. 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. II. 385 It is considered best to divide the labour of cleaning each strick of flax among three different stands. 1852 A. ROBB Poems & Songs 115 A streek o' lint I canna pu'. 1881 Spons' Encycl. Industr. Arts etc. IV. 1243 Each stone [of 14 lb.] contains 5-8 ‘stricks’ or handfuls of finished flax, and each strick is composed of two ‘fingers’, two of the small lots that have been treated at one operation in the scutching-process.

    b. In Silk-manuf. A bunch of silk fibre.

1887 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 63/1 When the spikes are sufficiently filled [with silk fibre], the lap is cut.., and so stripped from the drum it forms a definite number of ‘stricks’.

    2. A measure of capacity for corn, coal, etc.; also the measuring vessel. Cf. STRAIK n.¹ 2, STRIKE n. 4. Now dial.

1421 Coventry Leet Book 27 He schall haue a strik of corne for his labour. 1530 in Phillipps Wills (c 1830) 177, I bequethe to..our Lady at Bretforton a strycke of barley. 1569 Nottingham Rec. (1889) IV. 135 Payd..for makyng of a sealle to sealle stryckes wyth alle xijd. 1576-77 Ludlow Churchw. Acc (Camden) 165 Item, for half a strick of coales, ijd. 1600 in T. North Bells Lincs. (1882) 512 Item pd to Anthony harte for a strick of mawlt..iijs. iiijd. 1893-4 Northumbld. Gloss., Streek,..applied occasionally to the measure of corn itself, a streek being understood for a bushel.

    3. A piece of wood with which surplus grain is struck off level with the rim of the measure. Cf. STRICKLE n. 1, STRIKE n. 3a. Now dial.

14.. Lat. Eng. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 588/13 Hostorium, a stryche. c1440 Promp. Parv. 479/1 Strek, of a mesure as of a buschel or other lyke, hostorium. 1585 HIGINS Junius' Nomencl. 256/1 Radius,..that which Bakers vse to make their meale measures euen: a streeke or strichell. Ibid. 341/1 Hostorium,.a stritchill: a stricke: a..peece of wood..wherewith measures are made euen.

Comb. 1886 W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v. Strick 2, So ‘strick-measure’ means level, in distinction from ‘heap-measure’, as peas, potatoes, fruit, &c. are sold.

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