streak

Definitions of streak in various dictionaries:

noun - an unbroken series of events

noun - a distinctive characteristic

noun - a narrow marking of a different color or texture from the background

noun - a sudden flash (as of lightning)

verb - move quickly in a straight line

verb - run naked in a public place

verb - mark with spots or blotches of different color or shades of color as if stained

A line, mark, smear, or band differentiated by color or texture from its surroundings.

A slight contrasting element; a trace: “There was a streak of wildness in him” (Olga Carlisle).

Informal.

A brief run or stretch, as of luck.

An unbroken series, as of wins or losses.

The color of the fine powder produced when a mineral is rubbed against a hard surface.

Any of various viral diseases of plants characterized by the appearance of discolored stripes on the leaves or stems.

A bacterial culture inoculated by drawing a bacteria-laden needle across the surface of a solid culture medium.

To mark with streaks: rain streaking the pavement.

To lighten (strands of hair) with a chemical preparation.

To inoculate in order to produce a streak.

To form streaks.

To be or become streaked.

The central meaning shared by these noun s is “an intermixture of an unexpected quality, as in a person’s character”: a streak of humor; a strain of melancholy; a vein of stubbornness.

verb - to cover with streaks (long, narrow marks)