Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Dead-stroke \Dead"-stroke`\, a. (Mech.)
   Making a stroke without recoil; deadbeat.

   {Dead-stroke hammer} (Mach.), a power hammer having a spring
      interposed between the driving mechanism and the hammer
      head, or helve, to lessen the recoil of the hammer and
      reduce the shock upon the mechanism.