strikes 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

   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

   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

   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

   Synonyms:

   repel