Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und./police) an action considered audacious or daring; sometimes criminal activity.

1779		Nocturnal Revels 2 15: She was resolved, ere she retired from business [i.e. running a brothel] to make some capital strokes.
1806		T.S. Surr Winter in London III 162: What a great general your grace is! Two new carriages for the birth-day, and not a creature to know the fact till the very moment of their launch! That was a profound stroke.
c.1850		Peeping Tom (London) 16 62/1: A few lucky strokes put him in possession of a few thousands.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 41/2: Well, I ain’t going to ‘work’ another stroke with this ‘stuff’ about us.
1902		A. Bennett Grand Babylon Hotel 48: ‘Ah! I see,’ said the Prince; ‘this is one of your American “strokes”. You have bought to sell again.’.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 28: We’ve all done some funny strokes in our time, but may I be paralysed I draws the line at poncing.
1943		‘Henry Green’ Caught (2001) 64: It ended in a smashing stroke, he’d had both girls in the same bed.
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 28: A nice, well-planned, little surprise job, that’s a different stroke altogether.
1965		B. Behan Confessions 177: We knew that this deep cogitation meant that uncle Ritchie was thinking up a stroke.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 60: We were all meant to wonder how anybody could be mug enough to fall for such a clumsy stroke.
1983		A. Payne ‘Willesden Suite’ Minder [TV script] 53: What a stroke, eh Dave, and it’s legit.
1988		J. Healy Wild One (in Magill) Apr. n.p.: He loved the stroke. He loved going into the local school unannounced and asking for a day off for the students [BS].
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 288: You think some squeegee refugees gonna mess up my big stroke?
2010		K. Richards Life 128: I don’t think Andrew or any of us were geniuses, it [i.e. the Rolling Stones’ ‘bad boy’ image] was just a stroke that hit the mark.

2. (US) a monopoly; rights to do something.

1967

(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 6: So you’ve got the stroke on the gambling.

3. (US) influence, importance.

2001		D. Jenkins Money-Whipped Steer-Job 187: I was listening to Knut along with his IMG agent, Killer Tom McBride, the only agent with enough stroke to be in there [i.e. the contestants’ tent at the U.S. Open Golf Tournament].
2008		D. Jenkins Franchise Babe 63: You can’t guarantee a cover, Howie [...] you don’t have enough stroke to get it done’.