strike back

Verb

strike back (third-person singular simple present strikes back, present participle striking back, simple past struck back, past participle struck back or (rare or archaic) stricken back)

1. (intransitive) To respond to an attack by attacking one's opponent or opponents.
   • When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter VI, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 101
   • The she-wolf was angry. She sank her fangs into her mate’s shoulder in reproof; and he, frightened, unaware of what constituted this new onslaught, struck back ferociously and in still greater fright, ripping down the side of the she-wolf’s muzzle.1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter 1, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 2 (Born of the Wild), pages 61-62

   Synonyms:

   retaliate

2. (intransitive) To leave or set out (in a particular direction, often to where one has been).
   • The next day the starboard watch, to which we both belonged, was to be sent ashore on liberty; and availing ourselves of this opportunity, we determined, as soon after the landing as possible, to separate ourselves from the rest of the men without exciting their suspicions, and strike back at once...1846, Herman Melville, chapter 5, in Typee, New York: Wiley and Putnam, page 40
   • It was in this frame of mind that, striking back from the shore one morning into the windings of an unfamiliar lane, she came suddenly upon the figure of George Dorset.1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 6, p. 389

   Synonyms:

   head

3. (obsolete, transitive) To send (light, heat, a substance) in the direction of its source.
   • […] the lowest [region of the air] beinge next the earth and the waters, is temperat, and by repercussion or striking back of the sunne beames waxeth hoate, and by absence of them is made colde, being subiect to Wynter and Sommer.1563, William Fulke, A Goodly Gallerye with a Most Pleasaunt Prospect, into the Garden of Naturall Contemplation, London: William Griffith, Book 1
   • A direct love begets a Reflect love, as the heat wrought in the earth strikes back a heat up into the aire againe.1645, Edward Reynolds, Israels Prayer in Time of Trouble with Gods Gracious Answer Thereunto, London: Robert Bostock, Sermon 3, p. 34

   Synonyms:

   reflect

4. (obsolete, transitive) To push or force (someone or something) away.
   • […] if you cast a stone thereinto, it being struck back presently, you shall receive it cast forth again with great force.1669, uncredited translator, The Vulcano’s, or, Burning and Fire-Vomiting Mountains, by Athanasius Kircher, London: John Allen, Chapter 5, p. 28
   • […] by the sound
     Of those Majestic Words, struck back, they fell to th’ Ground.1693, Samuel Wesley, The Life of Our Blessed Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ, London: Charles Harper and Benjamin Motte, Book 8, p. 282

   Synonyms:

   repel