misstroke

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ stroke

Verb

misstroke (third-person singular simple present misstrokes, present participle misstroking, simple past and past participle misstroked)

1. To stroke badly. (any sense)
   • 1941 June, Tom Stow, “Tennis Tips Form a Champion Maker”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 75, number 6, page 178:

     One day the answer came, as I was coaching a pupil who kept up a running conversation as he persistently misstroked the ball.

   • 1980, The Masthead - Volumes 32-34, page 45:

     When it comes to typing, none of the strike-out artists among us has anything to write home about. But, for God's sake, if you're going to misstroke, do us the kindness of being as inventive as Mike.

   • 1992, Bruce Craven, Fast Sofa, page 79:

     Tamara had tried to introduce him to a few of the basic bridges, but he just dropped the cue across his knuckle and misstroked.

   • 2007, Judith Dupré, Monuments: America's History in Art and Memory, page 140:

     You're taking out such small amounts of stone at any given time that it's not as if you're going to misstroke and blow out the center of an O.

Noun

misstroke (plural misstrokes)

1. An instance of misstroking; a misstrike.
   • 1869, William Henry Harrison Murray, Adventures in the Wilderness: Or, Camp-life in the Adirondacks, page 79:

     To sit in your light shell of a boat, in mid-current, with rocks on either side, where the bed of the river declines at an angle of thirty degrees, knowing that a miscalculation of the eye, a misstroke of the oar or the least shaking of the muscles will send your boat rolling over and over, and you under it, has a very strong tendency to make a man look sharp and keep his wits about him.

   • 1908, Robert Peele, An Elementary Text-book of Coal Mining, page 287:

     To prevent the spears descending too far in case of a misstroke of the engine, and also to prevent them falling down the shaft in case of breakage, side or "banging" pieces of timber are bolted or strapped on to the spears at intervals down the shaft.

   • 2010, Joyce Carol Oates, A Fair Maiden:

     While he was sketching Katya in pastel chalks, a sudden misstroke of the chalk and Mr Kidder cursed, tore the paper in two, flung the chalk down so that it shattered on the floor.

   • 2010, Larry G. Pagel, Proofreading and Editing Precision, page 13:

     Keying an incorrect letter results in a misstroke. Misstrokes are easy to overlook in long words or in such words as quarantee (incorrectly spelled with a q) for guarantee (correctly spelled with a g).