blow vs strike

blow

verb
  • To cause to make sound by blowing, as a musical instrument. 

  • (used to express displeasure or frustration) Damn. 

  • To create or shape by blowing; as in to blow bubbles, to blow glass. 

  • To flatulate or defecate. 

  • To produce an air current. 

  • To fail at something; to mess up; to make a mistake. 

  • To propel by an air current (or, if under water, a water current), usually with the mouth. 

  • To fellate; to perform oral sex on (usually a man). 

  • To make flyblown, to defile, especially with fly eggs. 

  • (of a fly) To lay eggs; to breed. 

  • To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue. 

  • To be propelled by an air current. 

  • To sing. 

  • To blow from a gun. 

  • To blossom; to cause to bloom or blossom. 

  • To make a sound as the result of being blown. 

  • To clear of contents by forcing air through. 

  • To cause the sudden destruction of. 

  • To direct or move, usually of a person to a particular location. 

  • To burst or explode; to occur suddenly 

  • To leave, especially suddenly or in a hurry. 

  • To suddenly fail destructively. 

  • To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding. 

  • To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means. 

  • To be very undesirable. 

  • To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner. 

  • To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff. 

  • To recklessly squander. 

  • To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed. 

noun
  • Synonym of button (“the punchy or suspenseful line of dialogue that concludes a scene”) 

  • Cocaine. 

  • An instance of using high-pressure air to empty water from the ballast tanks of a submarine, increasing the submarine's buoyancy and causing it to surface. 

  • A damaging occurrence. 

  • Cannabis. 

  • A mass or display of flowers; a yield. 

  • An outcrop of quartz from surrounding rock, thought to indicate mineral deposits below. 

  • A bloom, state of flowering. 

  • A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault. 

  • A strong wind. 

  • The act of striking or hitting. 

  • A blowjob; fellatio. 

  • A display of anything brilliant or bright. 

  • Heroin. 

  • A chance to catch one's breath. 

  • A cut made to a sheep's fleece by a shearer using hand-shears. 

adj
  • Blue. 

strike

verb
  • To sound by percussion, with blows, or as if with blows. 

  • To hit. 

  • To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast. 

  • To create an impression. 

  • To cut off (a mortar joint, etc.) even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle. 

  • To affect by a sudden impression or impulse. 

  • To haul down or lower (a flag, mast, etc.) 

  • To make a sudden impression upon, as if by a blow; to affect with some strong emotion. 

  • To balance (a ledger or account). 

  • To dismantle and take away (a theater set; a tent; etc.). 

  • To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly. 

  • To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a stroke. 

  • To become attached to something; said of the spat of oysters. 

  • To stroke or pass lightly; to wave. 

  • To act suddenly, especially in a violent or criminal way. 

  • To impress, seem or appear (to). 

  • To capitulate; to signal a surrender by hauling down the colours. 

  • To level (a measure of grain, salt, etc.) with a straight instrument, scraping off what is above the level of the top. 

  • To impinge upon. 

  • To discover a source of something, often a buried raw material such as ore (especially gold) or crude oil. 

  • To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate. 

  • To touch; to act by appulse. 

  • To manufacture, as by stamping. 

  • To make and ratify. 

  • To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows. 

  • To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or notify by audible strokes. Of a clock, to announce (an hour of the day), usually by one or more sounds. 

  • To cause to ignite by friction. 

  • To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate. 

  • To set off on a walk or trip. 

  • To score a goal. 

  • To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate. 

  • To punish; to afflict; to smite. 

  • To carry out a violent or illegal action. 

  • To unfasten, to loosen (chains, bonds, etc.). 

  • To stop working as a protest to achieve better working conditions. 

noun
  • A nibble on the bait by a fish. 

  • In an option contract, the price at which the holder buys or sells if they choose to exercise the option. 

  • The strike plate of a door. 

  • A cancellation postmark. 

  • An iron pale or standard in a gate or fence. 

  • The primary face of a hammer, opposite the peen. 

  • An instrument with a straight edge for levelling a measure of grain, salt, etc., scraping off what is above the level of the top; a strickle. 

  • A status resulting from a batter swinging and missing a pitch, or not swinging at a pitch when the ball goes in the strike zone, or hitting a foul ball that is not caught. 

  • The status of being the batsman that the bowler is bowling at. 

  • The act of knocking down all ten pins in on the first roll of a frame. 

  • An old English measure of corn equal to the bushel. 

  • A blow or application of physical force against something. 

  • A work stoppage (or otherwise concerted stoppage of an activity) as a form of protest. 

  • The compass direction of the line of intersection between a rock layer and the surface of the Earth. 

  • The discovery of a source of something. 

  • A puddler's stirrer. 

How often have the words blow and strike occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )