To reach, to arrive at; to meet, to encounter.
1798. Thence south, such a course as will strike William Negro’s house.—Mass. Mercury, Oct. 30.
1807. Struck and passed the divide between the Grand river and the Verdegris river.—Z. M. Pike, ‘Sources of the Mississippi’ (1810), ii. 136. (N.E.D.)
1811. I then resumed my march; we struck the cultivated grounds about five hundred yards below the town.—Report of Gov. W. H. Harrison to the Secretary of War, Nov. 18: Mass. Spy, Jan. 8, 1812.
1824. They proceeded to the Mississippi, which they struck at Port Crawford.—Id., Feb. 25.
1837. That were the Ridge-d Road which we have stricken, on the brow of the hill, o’er which the driver have just riz!—Knick. Mag., ix. 71 (Jan.).
1839. Towards evening, we struck Blackfoot River, a small, sluggish, stagnant stream, heading with the waters of a rapid rivulet passed yesterday, which empties into the Bear river.—J. K. Townsend, ‘Narrative,’ p. 84–5.
1839. At about noon, we struck Walla Walla River.—Id., p. 153.
1845. The whole distance we have traveled since we struck the river cannot be regarded as more than a barren sandy plain.—Joel Palmer, ‘Journal,’ p. 59 (Cincinn., 1847).
1846. A recent scout of volunteers from San Antonia struck the river near Presidio Rio Grande.—Letter of Gen. Taylor, Jan. 7: Cong. Globe, 30th Congress, 1848, p. 272, App.
1846. About eleven o’clock we struck a vast white plain, uniformly level, and utterly destitute of vegetation or any sign that shrub or plant had ever existed above its snow-like surface.—Edwin Bryant, ‘What I saw in California,’ p. 175 (N.Y.).
1852. We hid the canoe under some brush, and struck the war-path of the Delawares.—H. C. Watson, ‘Nights in a Block-house,’ p. 28 (Phila.).
1853. They … will probably take a northwestern course by the way of the head waters of the Arkansas, and strike the main emigrant road near Fort Laramie.—The Seer, Sept., p. 144 (Wash., D.C., edited by Orson Pratt).
1859. [In journeying from Tennessee, a traveler found the mail-cart] in the midst of a limitless sea of mud … inquired, “What in thunder is the matter?” “Nothing,” responded the driver, busily plying his whip the while, “only we’ve struck Kentucky!”—Harper’s Weekly, iii. 260/2 (April 16). (Italics in the original.)
1863. [Gen. Jackson] struck the river at a point three miles below Williamsport.—O. J. Victor, ‘The History … of the Southern Rebellion,’ ii. 467.
1869. He struck the Mississippi quite low down.—E. E. Hale, ‘Ingham Papers,’ p. 72.
1878. They had struck the cordon of picket posts which surrounded the surrendered army.—‘Southern Hist. Soc. Papers,’ vii. 177.
1878. ’Fore long I struck an old pard o’ dads, and found he’d gone away up Red River, in the new country.—J. H. Beadle, ‘Western Wilds,’ p. 29.
1888. Charley Read struck an old tramp in the calaboose, who looked disgusted at his headquarters.—‘Santa Ana Blade,’ n.d. (Farmer).
1904. It’s a new brand [of tobacco] I run across t’other day—the best I’ve struck in a month o’ Sundays.—W. N. Harben, ‘The Georgians,’ p. 16.
1909. Had I been told all that the farmers of the village of Burton knew when I struck the Jefferson Hotel there, I should have been spared much that is repugnant to me.—N.Y. Evening Post, April 22.
1909. When they struck the Square, Sam went right down Main Street right in the direction of the coffee house.—Eliza C. Hall, ‘The Land of Long Ago,’ p. 228 (N.Y.).
