spike
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spike¹
- /spaɪk/
Rhymes with -aɪk
Where it comes from
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.
noun spikes
- A sort of very large nail.
- A piece of pointed metal etc. set with points upward or outward. The trap was lined with spikes.
-
Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
He vvears on his head the Corona Radiata, vvhich at that time vvas another type of his Divinity. The ſpikes that ſhoot out from the crovvn vvere to repreſent the rays of the Sun.
Similar: fang
- An ear of corn or grain.
- A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
- A running shoe with spikes in the sole to provide grip.
- A sharp peak in a graph.
- 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. If the border were shut down, consumers would most likely see an immediate spike in food prices, and supplies of fresh food could dwindle from grocery store shelves in a matter of days.
- The rod-like protrusion from a woman's high-heeled shoe that elevates the heel.
-
A long nail for storing papers by skewering them; (by extension) the metaphorical place where rejected newspaper articles are sent.
It was all true, it appeared. He sat down and wrote it, the editor read it and said: ' We don't use stories like this in this newspaper.' So the story ended up on the spike, reinforcing the principle that wife-swapping, unlike justice, must not be seen to be done.
Similar: spindle
- An attack from, usually, above the height of the net performed with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.
- An adolescent male deer.
- The casual ward of a workhouse. Dere's tay spikes, and cocoa spikes, and skilly spikes.
- Spike lavender. oil of spike
-
Synonym of endpin.
Similar: endpin
- A mark indicating where a prop or other item should be placed on stage. Sometimes actors set props on the spikes, or sometimes a deckhand will do it, depending on the action of the play.
- A small project that uses the simplest possible program to explore potential solutions. An architectural spike is used to prove that a specific technical approach works. Teams will often do an architectural spike when they have a few different options for designing a specific technical solution, or if they don't know if a certain approach will work.
- An excessively high church Anglican. Here we see an Anglo-Catholic spike cocking a snook at authority, getting away with it, and probably exercising an important liturgical and sacramental ministry – at least by his own lights – to some of the troops on the Western Front.
- a structure projecting from the surface of an enveloped virus, which binds to host cells.
verb spikes · spiking · spiked
- To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails. to spike down planks
- To set or furnish with spikes.
- To embed nails into (a tree) so that any attempt to cut it down will damage equipment or injure people.
- To fix on a spike. He spiked the story on the “dead” hook and answered his interphone.
- To discard; to decide not to publish or make public. Nicolaas, or Nick, as the family called him, wanted to turn professional but an ear injury, sustained during the war, spiked his plans.
- To increase sharply. Traffic accidents spiked in December when there was ice on the roads.
-
To add alcohol or a drug into a drink, especially if covertly.
She spiked my lemonade with vodka!
Similar: Irish up
- 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.
- To attack from, usually, above the height of the net with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.
- To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole. He jumped down, wrenched the hammer from the armourer's hand, and seizing a nail from the bag, in a few moments he had spiked the gun.
- To slam the football to the ground, usually in celebration of scoring a touchdown, or to stop expiring time on the game clock after snapping the ball as to save time for the losing team to attempt to score the tying or winning points. to spike the football
- To inject a drug with a syringe.
- To speak directly to camera.
Spike²
- /spaɪk/
Rhymes with -aɪk
Where it comes from
From spike, variously from having spiky hair, being thin (like a railroad spike), etc.
proper noun
- A male nickname. This book contains mostly humorous animal poems by poets such as Spike Milligan, Theodore Roethke, and Rudyard Kipling.
Spike³
- /spaɪk/
Rhymes with -aɪk
Where it comes from
From spike, perhaps a nickname for a tall, thin person.
proper noun Spikes
- A surname transferred from the nickname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: impale, lace, fortify, empale, transfix, ear, capitulum, spike out, tip, lance, pike, spade, sack, jab, poker, arrow
Translations
Every language
noun very large nail
| Español | clavo, pincho |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 針 hari |
| हिन्दी | कीला kīlā |
| Português | espinho, cravo |
| Français | clou, pointe |
| Deutsch | Nagel, Spitze |
| Italiano | chiodo, lancia, punta, spuntone, spunzone |
| Română | țăruș, piron |
| Русский | штырь štyrʹ, косты́ль kostýlʹ, на́гель nágelʹ, клин klin |
noun anything resembling such a nail in shape
| Español | pincho, púa, punta, puncha, puya, espiga |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 針 hari |
| Português | espinho |
| Français | pieu, pic, pique |
| Deutsch | Spitze, Stachel |
| Italiano | punta, arpione |
| Română | țăruș, piron |
| Русский | штырь štyrʹ, шпиль špilʹ, шип šip, остриё ostrijó |
noun botany: kind of inflorescence
| Español | espiga |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 穂状花序 hojō-kajo |
| Deutsch | Ähre |
| Italiano | spiga, amento, infiorescenza a spiga |
| Русский | ко́лос kólos |
noun informal: running shoes with spikes in the soles
| 日本語 | スパイク靴 supaiku-gutsu |
|---|---|
| Português | pitão |
| Français | crampons |
| Italiano | scarpa chiodata |
| Русский | шипо́вки šipóvki |
noun sharp peak in a graph
| Español | pico |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 針 hari |
| Deutsch | Spitze, Nadel |
| Italiano | picco |
| Русский | скачо́к skačók |
| עברית | פרץ perets |
noun volleyball
| 日本語 | スパイク supaiku |
|---|---|
| Português | cortada |
| Deutsch | Schmetterball |
| Italiano | schiacciata |
| Русский | ата́ка atáka, атаку́ющий уда́р atakújuščij udár, напада́ющий уда́р napadájuščij udár, уда́р udár |
noun ear of grain — see also ear
| Español | espiga |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 穂 ho |
| 中文 | 穗 suì |
| Português | espiga |
| Français | épi |
| Deutsch | Ähre, Getreideähre |
| Italiano | spiga, amento |
| Ελληνικά | στάχυ stáchy |
| Română | spic |
| Русский | ко́лос kólos |
| العربية | سنبلة sunbula |
verb to increase sharply
| Português | disparar |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | in die Höhe schießen |
| Русский | подска́кивать podskákivatʹ, подскочи́ть podskočítʹ |
verb to covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance into a drink
| Português | batizar |
|---|
verb to add a small amount of one substance to another
| Italiano | tagliare |
|---|
verb volleyball
| Español | rematar |
|---|---|
| Português | cortar |
| Italiano | schiacciare |
| Русский | атакова́ть atakovátʹ, напада́ть napadátʹ, уда́рить udáritʹ |
Talk about this word "spike." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/spike. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. spike. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/spike "spike." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/spike.
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@misc{spike_2026,
title = {spike},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spike},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
