streak

n.

1. A line, mark, smear, or band differentiated by color or texture from its surroundings.
2. An inherent, often contrasting quality: “There was a streak of wildness in him” (Olga Carlisle).
3. A ray or flash of light: the first streaks of dawn; a streak of lightning.
4. Informal.
   1. A brief run or stretch, as of luck.
   2. An unbroken series, as of wins or losses.
5. Mineralogy. The color of the fine powder produced when a mineral is rubbed against a hard surface. Used as a distinguishing characteristic.
6. Botany. Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems.
7. Microbiology. A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium.

v., streaked, streak·ing, streaks.

v.tr.

1. To mark with streaks: rain streaking the pavement.
2. To lighten (strands of hair) with a chemical preparation.
3. Microbiology. To inoculate in order to produce a streak.

v.intr.

1. To form streaks.
2. To be or become streaked.
3. To move at high speed; rush.
4. To run naked in public, especially as a prank.

[Middle English streke, line, from Old English strica.]

streaker streak'er n.

SYNONYMS  streak, strain, vein. These nouns denote an inherent, often unexpected quality, as in a person's character: a streak of humor; a strain of melancholy; a vein of stubbornness.

noun

1. A slight amount or indication: breath, dash, ghost, hair, hint, intimation, semblance, shade, shadow, soupçon, suggestion, suspicion, taste, tinge, touch, trace, whiff, whisper. Informal whisker. See big/small/amount, show/hide.
2. An intermixture of a contrasting or unexpected quality, especially in a person's character: strain², vein. See be.
3. A number of things placed or occurring one after the other: chain, consecution, course, order, procession, progression, round, run, sequence, series, string, succession, suite, train. See order/disorder.

verb

To mark with a line or band, as of different color or texture: striate, stripe, variegate. See marks.

Origin: 1974

In the spring of 1974, the Vietnam War was finally winding to an end, President Nixon was nearing impeachment for Watergate (1972), and across the country American college students were streaking. That is, they were making brief rapid appearances in public without their briefs or any other apparel--except, sometimes, their shoes, the better to make a quick streak.

Both the activity and the name for it began in the 1960s. In 1965 streaking was such a fad at the University of Colorado that some students tried it on vacation in Mazatlan, Mexico, only to be shot at and jailed for two days without their clothes. A 1967 column by San Francisco writer Herb Caen explained, "If you're in Sausalito one of these nights, and some guy with no clothes on runs past, fast as hell, you're seeing a 'streaker.' It's a contest, called 'Streaking,' that started a few years ago on the campuses, and seems to be reviving. The idea is to be seen naked by as many people as possible without getting caught."

It was in 1974, though, that streaking became a nationwide fad. There were streakers in student cafeterias, on public streets, at performances of plays. A fine spring night even saw a "streak-off" between two colleges in one small Midwestern town, with a large crowd of student spectators cheering the contestants as they unexpectedly erupted one by one from the shadows for their flash of fame. Nothing quite like it has happened since.

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For more information on streak, visit Britannica.com.

1. a fault in radiographs caused by inadequate rinsing or dirty hangers.
2. the process of inoculating microorganisms onto agar media with a loop such that the inoculum is seeded at decreasing concentration across the media, resulting in isolated colonies of the microorganism.

• focused grid s. — a focused grid placed on the cassette upside down will cause streaking around the edges of the film.

IN BRIEF: n. - A marking of a different color or texture from the background; A sudden flash (as of lightning).

It was as if we had fallen under a streak of sunlight. — Edward King

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - stribe, streg, glimt, antydning, anstrøg, træk
v. tr. - stribe, fare, gøre stribet, løbe nøgenløb
v. intr. - fare, løbe nøgenløb

Nederlands (Dutch)
naaktlopen, strepen maken, flitsen, flits, streep, serie, karaktertrek

Français (French)
n. - côté, passe, période, traînée (de peinture), rai, mèche
v. tr. - strier, faire des mèches à (qn)
v. intr. - passer/traverser comme une flèche, courir nu

Deutsch (German)
n. - Streifen, Strähne
v. - streifen, flitzen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - γραμμή, ρίγα, αχτίδα, φλέβισμα, τούφα, μες (μαλλιών), οριζόντιες παραμορφώσεις τηλεοπτικής εικόνας
v. - χαράσσω με ρίγες ή φλέβες, τρέχω, (καθομ.) γυμνοδρομώ (σε πλήθος), κάνω στρίκινγκ, (καθομ.) (για φωτογραφικό φιλμ) παίρνω φως

Italiano (Italian)
muoversi a gran velocità, striare, rigare, macchia, vena, lampo, striscia, banda

Português (Portuguese)
n. - listra (m)

Русский (Russian)
полоска, прожилка, черта (характера), период, промежуток, бросок, проводить полосы, быстро двигаться, бегать нагишом, обесцвечивать или красить отдельные пряди волос

Español (Spanish)
n. - racha, vena, veta, ráfaga, haz, rayo, lista, raya, línea
v. tr. - rayar, listar, gayar
v. intr. - pasar como un rayo, viajar velozmente

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - strimma, rand, streck, drag, inslag, ryck, period, serie
v. - göra strimmig, randa, ådra (tekn.), näcklöpa (fam.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
条理, 倾向, 斑纹, 在...上有条纹, 裸体飞跑在, 使留下条痕, 形成条纹, 裸体飞跑, 疾驶, 飞奔, 闪现

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 條理, 傾向, 斑紋
v. tr. - 在...上有條紋, 裸體飛跑在, 使留下條痕
v. intr. - 形成條紋, 裸體飛跑, 疾駛, 飛奔, 閃現

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 줄, 광맥, ~의 성질
v. tr. - 줄무늬를 넣다, 줄 모양으로 배열하다
v. intr. - 줄무늬가 되다, 날래게 움직이다, 스트리킹하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 筋, 傾向, 一時期, ひと続き, 鉱脈
v. - 筋を付ける, 疾走する, 裸で人前を疾走する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) شريط, نزعه (فعل) قلم, خطط, حزز, أطلق ساقيه للريح‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קו, רצועה, פס, עקבות, נטייה, תכונה, תקופה, שעה, רצף נצחונות/הפסדים‬
v. tr. - ‮סימן בפסים‬
v. intr. - ‮נע במהירות, רץ, רץ עירום במקום פומבי כמעשה קונדס‬

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Merrell Streak	Aerosoles Neat Streak
solar streak	Atec Hitting Streak