spike
/spaɪk/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms spikes spiking spiked
- noun A sort of very large nail.
- noun A piece of pointed metal etc. set with points upward or outward. “The trap was lined with spikes.”
- noun (by extension) Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
- noun An ear of corn or grain.
- noun (botany) A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
- noun (informal, chiefly in the plural) A running shoe with spikes in the sole to provide grip.
- noun A sharp peak in a graph.
- noun A surge in power or in the price of a commodity, etc.; any sudden and brief change that would be represented by a sharp peak on a graph.
- verb To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails. “to spike down planks”
- verb To set or furnish with spikes.
- verb To embed nails into (a tree) so that any attempt to cut it down will damage equipment or injure people.
- verb To fix on a spike.
- verb (figurative, journalism) To discard; to decide not to publish or make public.
- verb To increase sharply. “Traffic accidents spiked in December when there was ice on the roads.”
- verb To add alcohol or a drug into a drink, especially if covertly. “She spiked my lemonade with vodka!”
- verb To add a small amount of one substance to another. “The water sample to be tested has been spiked with arsenic, antimony, mercury, and lead in quantities commonly found in industrial effluents.”
- proper noun A male nickname.
- proper noun A surname transferred from the nickname.
Synonyms
fang spindle endpin Irish up attack hit ear capitulum spike heel stiletto heel transfix impale empale spike out lace fortify
Etymology
From Middle English spike, spyke, spik, from Old Norse spík (“spike, sprig”), from Proto-Germanic *spīkō (“stick, splinter, point”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“to be pointed; sharp point, stick”). Cognate with Icelandic spík (“spike”), Swedish spik (“spike, nail”), Dutch spijker (“nail”), Old English spīcing (“spike”), and Latin spīca (“ear of corn”), which may have influenced some senses.
From spike, variously from having spiky hair, being thin (like a railroad spike), etc.
From spike, perhaps a nickname for a tall, thin person.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward.
- noun Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
- verb To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails; as, to spike down planks.
- verb To set or furnish with spikes.
Etymology [Akin to LG. spiker, spieker, a large nail, D. spijker, Sw. spik, Dan. spiger, Icel. spik; all perhaps from L. spica a point, an ear of grain; but in the sense of nail more likely akin to E. spoke of a wheel. Cf. Spine.]
Etymology [Cf. G. spieke, L. spica an ear of grain. See Spikenard.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “spike”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details