by-stroke

plural by-strokes

1. An incidental or slyly given stroke; a gratuitous addition or indirect action.

   These persons are selected, for a by-stroke of satire, as drunken and riotous paupers .

   1875, Benjamin Bickley Rogers, Ἀριστοφανους Σφηκες. The Wasps of Aristophanes, page 200

   5 more examples

   But we do not suppose the House of Commons will quite surrender its authority to them on a point of such importance, or allow its intentions to be frustrated by a by-stroke of the Commissioners, without further inquiry.

   1848 February 12, The Railway Chronicle, page 107

   The text before us furnishes an example of the manner in which he is wont to convey this doctrine to the minds of his people, even where he is not immediately employed on it—by a by-stroke, as it were .

   1857, John James Blunt, Plain sermons preached to a country congregation, page 18

   Still, in doing this, he has not unfrequently found himself, as it were, wielding the sword in one hand, while grasping the trowel in the other—though strengthening his own position, and making that his aim, yet at the same time, by a kind of bystroke, rebutting an enemy's blow as well.

   1863, James Conway Walter, The Genuineness of the Book of Daniel

   Then followed an ingeniously slighting reference to "the large increase, during November, in the coruscation of eloquence which has been flashed upon appreciative audiences through the provinces of our native land";—a by-stroke at our noble selves, carefully meant to soothe French ears and smooth the way for what was to come.

   1899 January, “The Looker-On”, in Blackwood's Magazine, volume 165, page 155

   Financier as he was, he felt it was not right by a by-stroke or side-wind to alter what is a matter of high constitutional practice.

   1911, The Parliamentary debates: Official Report

2. A secondary attack.

   On his way he could not resist the temptation of dealing a by-stroke at the Petchenegans.

   1880, Robert Gossip, History of Russia, page 22

   1 more example

   The carriage of Lord Wilsdown rattled swiftly up to the door of Prince de Rosenberg's house in Park-lane, and the footman springing nimbly to the ground, produced a roll of thunder from the knocker, that would have done credit to a by-stroke of the cloud compelling Zeus .

   1845, The Impostor: Or, Born Without a Conscience, page 252