Downward stroke can mean:
- In handwriting, a downward stroke or downstroke is a ballistic stroke having a direction toward the feet and/or torso of the person.
- In guitar terminology, a downward stroke or downstroke (better known as downpicking) is a stroke moved in a downward motion, relative to the position of the instrument, against one or more of the strings to make them vibrate.
Famous quotes containing the words downward and/or stroke:
“Go on, high ship, since now, upon the shore,
The snake has left its skin upon the floor.
Key West sank downward under massive clouds
And silvers and greens spread over the sea. The moon
Is at the mast-head and the past is dead.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“He will not idly dance at his work who has wood to cut and cord before nightfall in the short days of winter; but every stroke will be husbanded, and ring soberly through the wood; and so will the strokes of that scholar’s pen, which at evening record the story of the day, ring soberly, yet cheerily, on the ear of the reader, long after the echoes of his axe have died away.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)