downstrikes

Noun

downstrike (plural downstrikes)

1. A bolt of lightning that touches ground.
   • Seventeen hundred downstrikes of lightning later, destruction reigns over southwest Oregon.1994, David A. Perry, Forest Ecosystems, →ISBN, page 105
2. A (usually unintended) branch of current that arcs downward to ground.
   • Besides forming new cores, arcs may also form branches, and "downstrikes" are liable to be particularly troublesome.1959, Electrical Times - Volume 135, page 355
3. A blow by a hand or weapon that occurs with a downward striking motion.
   • Attacker executes a downstrike. Defender performs a two-hand catch, blocks, rotates through and performs an elbow-break with accompanying shoulder dislocation.1977, Michael D. Echanis, Knife Self-Defense for Combat, →ISBN, page 34
4. A downward plucking motion on a stringed instrument.
   • How the guitarist chooses to create the differences between the accented and unaccented notes has usually been left up to the player, although it is usual for players to use a downstrike (apoyando) for an accented tone and an upstroke (tirando) for an unaccented tone.1985, John Schneider, The Contemporary Guitar, →ISBN, page 117
5. A downstroke; a downward movement that terminates in striking something.
   • It is sort of like paying a carpenter for the downstrike of his hammer and saying the upstroke is on his on time.1965, United States Congress Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Hearings, page 185
6. A type of manual typewriter that causes the letters to print on the downstroke of the keys and retract as the key rises.
   • These machines had straight-line keyboards and a semicircular downstrike typebasket that made for easy visibility by the typist.1985, Frank T. Masi, The Typewriter Legend, page 67

See all 18 meanings of downstrike