Hearing the name, then seeing in action the actress to whom it belongs, and knowing that in Dutch (from which it derives) Streep means “underline” or “underscore,” one’s impulse is to make a play on the word, such as “Miss Streep underscored her part with quick-witted vitality.” The fact is, though, her name could be Susie Jones, for all that it matters, because in the space of 10 months last year Miss Streep drew the attention of audiences and critics alike while appearing in no fewer than six productions, ranging from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams. Along the way, she received the Outer Circle Critics’ and Theatre World Awards, as well as Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations. In her. first work for television, Miss Streep costars, with Michael Moriarty and Kevin Conway, in “The Deadliest Season,” a dramatic film special about a professional athlete whose principles and personal life are corrupted by his aggressive drive for success i at any price — a success that brings him notoriety, then tragedy. The special will be presented Wednesday, at 8 p.m. on Channel 4.

Miss Streep portrays the wife of Moriarty, as’ the hockey player, but it is hot the first time she’s acted, with him. “During my senior year at Vassar,” she says, “we did what must be one of the first plays in modern history, ‘Don Juan,’ written by Tirso de Molina in the 15th century. I played a fishergirl; Michael played old. D.J. himself. It was pretty arcane stuff. They weren’t exactly beating down the doors to come see a restaging of de Molina.”

A few months ago, she finished work on her first motion picture;’ five weeks In England filming “Julia” (an adaptation of a portion of Lillian Hellman’s “Pentimento”) with Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave, for director Fred Zinneman. It was exciting, she says, although she got off to a lessthan- auspicious start. “I came on the set the first day, ready to act,” she recalls. “I’d had my wig fitted, my gown fitted, my lashes and nails fitted, and I knew my lines cold. Mr. Zinneman had begun going over the scene with me when I suddenly realized I had no idea what he was talking about. ‘Oh, this is the latest script revision,’ he said. ‘Didn’t you get it?’ I was floored! Well, don’t you know I broke out in hives? It took make-up so long to work me and my decolletage over with a powder puff that I managed to get my lines down. After that, it was cake.”