pike
/paɪk/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms pikes piking piked
- noun (military, historical) A very long spear used two-handed by infantry soldiers for thrusting (not throwing), both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assaults.
- noun A sharp, pointed staff or implement.
- noun A large haycock (“conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack”).
- noun Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
- noun (diving, gymnastics) A position with the knees straight and a tight bend at the hips with the torso folded over the legs, usually part of a jack-knife.
- noun (fashion, dated) A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
- noun (historical) A style of shoes with pikes, popular in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
- noun (chiefly Northern England) Especially in place names: a hill or mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak or summit. “Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England.”
- verb (transitive) To prod, attack, or injure someone with a pike.
- verb (ambitransitive, diving, gymnastics) To assume a pike position.
- verb (intransitive, gambling) To bet or gamble with only small amounts of money.
- verb (intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Often followed by on or out: to quit or back out of a promise. “Don’t pike on me like you did last time!”
- noun (derogatory, ethnic slur, slang) A gypsy, itinerant tramp, or traveller from any ethnic background; a pikey.
- verb (intransitive) To equip with a turnpike.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete, UK, thieves' cant) To depart or travel (as if by a turnpike), especially to flee, to run away.
- proper noun A surname from Middle English.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Sierra County, California.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Boone County, Indiana, first named Pikes Crossing, at the crossing of a turnpike.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Haverhill, Grafton County, New Hampshire.
- proper noun A town, hamlet, and census-designated place therein, in Wyoming County, New York.
Synonyms
ged northern pike expressway freeway motorway state highway superhighway throughway thruway
Etymology
From Middle English pyke, pyk, pik, pike (“pike; sharp point, iron tip of a staff or spear, pointed toe of an item of footwear; sharp tool; mountain, peak”), from Old English pīc (“pointed object, pick axe”), and Middle French pique (“long thrusting weapon”), from Old French pic (“sharp point, spike”); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz, *pīkō (“sharp point, pike, peak”), related to pick with a narrower meaning.
The word is cognate with Middle Dutch pecke, peke, picke (modern Dutch piek), German Pike, Norwegian pik, Danish pig, and possibly Old Irish pīk. It is a doublet of pique.
The diving or gymnastics position is probably from tapered appearance of the body when the position is executed.
The carnivorous freshwater fish is probably derived from the “sharp point, spike” senses, due to the fish’s pointed jaws.
The verb sense “to quit or back out of a promise” may be from the sense of taking up pilgrim's staff or pike and leaving on a pilgrimage; and compare Middle English pī̆ken (“to go, remove oneself”) and Old Danish pikke af (“to go away”).
Clipping of turnpike (“a toll road, especially a toll expressway; a spiked barrier across a road, originally used to block access to the road until toll had been paid”).
Noun sense 2 (“gypsy, itinerant tramp, or traveller”) and verb sense 2 (“to depart, travel, especially to flee, run away”) may refer to someone frequently using turnpikes, or may be derived from Middle English pī̆ken (“to go, remove oneself”).
The surname is of multiple origins, including Middle English pike.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A foot soldier's weapon, consisting of a long wooden shaft or staff, with a pointed steel head. It is now superseded by the bayonet.
- noun A pointed head or spike; esp., one in the center of a shield or target. Beau. & Fl.
Etymology [F. pique; perhaps of Celtic origin; cf. W. pig a prick, a point, beak, Arm. pik pick. But cf. also L. picus woodpecker (see Pie magpie), and E. spike. Cf. Pick, n. & v., Peak, Pique.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pike”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details