spoke
UK /spəʊk/ · US /spoʊk/ noun, verb
Also a form of speak
Forms spokes spoking spoked
- noun A support structure that connects the axle or the hub of a wheel to the rim.
- noun (nautical) A projecting handle of a steering wheel.
- noun A rung of a ladder.
- noun A stick inserted into the wheel of a vehicle to keep the wheel from turning.
- noun One of the outlying points in a hub-and-spoke model of transportation.
- verb (transitive) To furnish (a wheel) with spokes.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English spoke, from Old English spāca, from Proto-West Germanic *spaikā, from Proto-Germanic *spaikō. Compare Scots spaik (“spoke”), Dutch spaak and English spike.
From Middle English speke, spake, spoke, spak, spek, speken, spoken, from Old English spæc, specen.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly.
- noun A projecting handle of a steering wheel.
- verb To furnish with spokes, as a wheel.
Etymology [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “spoke”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details