misstroke
nounEtymology From mis- + stroke.
1
An instance of misstroking; a misstrike.
- 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.1869, William Henry Harrison Murray, Adventures in the Wilderness: Or, Camp-life in the Adirondacks, page 79:
- 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.1908, Robert Peele, An Elementary Text-book of Coal Mining, page 287:
2 more examples
- 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, Joyce Carol Oates, A Fair Maiden:
- 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).2010, Larry G. Pagel, Proofreading and Editing Precision, page 13: