What does spike mean?
Definitions for spike
spaɪkspike
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word spike.
Princeton's WordNet
spikenoun
a transient variation in voltage or current
spikenoun
sports equipment consisting of a sharp point on the sole of a shoe worn by athletes
"spikes provide greater traction"
ear, spike, capitulumnoun
fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn
spikenoun
(botany) an indeterminate inflorescence bearing sessile flowers on an unbranched axis
spikenoun
a sharp rise followed by a sharp decline
"the seismograph showed a sharp spike in response to the temblor"
spike heel, spike, stiletto heelnoun
a very high narrow heel on women's shoes
spikenoun
each of the sharp points on the soles of athletic shoes to prevent slipping (or the shoes themselves)
"the second baseman sharpened his spikes before every game"; "golfers' spikes damage the putting greens"
spikenoun
a sharp-pointed projection along the top of a fence or wall (or a dinosaur)
spikenoun
a long, thin sharp-pointed implement (wood or metal)
"one of the spikes impaled him"
spike, spindlenoun
any holding device consisting of a rigid, sharp-pointed object
"the spike pierced the receipts and held them in order"
spikeverb
a large stout nail
"they used spikes to fasten the rails to a railroad tie"
spikeverb
stand in the way of
transfix, impale, empale, spikeverb
pierce with a sharp stake or point
"impale a shrimp on a skewer"
spikeverb
secure with spikes
spike, spike outverb
bring forth a spike or spikes
"my hyacinths and orchids are spiking now"
spike, lace, fortifyverb
add alcohol to (beverages)
"the punch is spiked!"
spikeverb
manifest a sharp increase
"the voltage spiked"
Wiktionary
spikenoun
A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward.
spikenoun
Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
spikenoun
An ear of grain.
spikenoun
A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
spikenoun
(in plural spikes; informal) Running shoes with spikes in the soles.
spikenoun
A sharp peak in a graph.
spikenoun
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.
spikenoun
An adolescent male deer.
spikenoun
a surge in power.
spikeverb
To covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance in a drink that previously did not contain such substances.
spikeverb
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.
spikeverb
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.
spikeverb
To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole.
spikeverb
To decide not to publish or make public.
spikenoun
(slang) The casual ward of a workhouse.
Etymology: spīca "ear of grain"
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Spikenoun
Etymology: spica, Latin.
Drawn up in ranks and files, the bearded spikes
Guard it from birds as with a stand of pikes. John Denham.Suffering not the yellow beards to rear,
He tramples down the spikes, and intercepts the year. Dryd.The gleaners,
Spike after spike, their sparing harvest pick. James Thomson.For the body of the ships, no nation equals England for the oaken timber; and we need not borrow of any other iron for spikes, or nails to fasten them. Francis Bacon.
The head of your medal would be seen to more advantage, if it were placed on a spike of the tower. Dryden.
He wears on his head the corona radiata, another type of his divinity: the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun. Addison.
Spikenoun
The name of a plant. This is a smaller species of lavender.
The oil of spike is much used by our artificers in their varnishes; but it is generally adulterated. John Hill, Mat. Med.
To Spikeverb
Etymology: from the noun.
Lay long planks upon them, pinned or spiked down to the pieces of oak on which they lie. Joseph Moxon, Mech. Exer.
Lay long planks upon them, spiking or pinning them down fast. John Mortimer, Husbandry.
A youth, leaping over the spiked pales, was suddenly frighted down, and in his falling he was catched by those spikes. Richard Wiseman.
ChatGPT
spike
A spike is a sharp point or peak, often referring to a sudden increase or sharp rise in something such as data, numbers, or measurements. It can also refer to a physical sharp point, often seen in sports gear or equipment. In the context of neurons, a spike refers to a sudden change in voltage. In media or literature, a spike can also refer to a sudden surge of interest or attention.
Webster Dictionary
Spikenoun
a sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward
Spikenoun
anything resembling such a nail in shape
Spikenoun
an ear of corn or grain
Spikenoun
a kind of flower cluster in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis
Spikeverb
to fasten with spikes, or long, large nails; as, to spike down planks
Spikeverb
to set or furnish with spikes
Spikeverb
to fix on a spike
Spikeverb
to stop the vent of (a gun or cannon) by driving a spike nail, or the like into it
Spikenoun
spike lavender. See Lavender
Etymology: [Cf. G. spieke, L. spica an ear of grain. See Spikenard.]
Wikidata
Spike
Spike, played by James Marsters, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Spike is a vampire and played various roles on the shows, ranging from villain to anti-hero. For Marsters, the role as Spike began a career in science fiction television, becoming "the obvious go-to guy for US cult [television]". For creator Whedon, Spike is the "most fully developed" of his characters. The character had intended to be a brief villain, with Whedon originally adamant to not have another major "romantic vampire" character like Angel - Marsters says "Spike was supposed to be dirty and evil, punk rock, and then dead" - but the character ended up staying for the second season, and then returning in the fourth to replace Cordelia as "the character who told Buffy she was stupid and about to die". Within the series' narrative, William was an unsuccessful aspiring poet in the Victorian era who was mocked and called "William the Bloody" because of his "bloody awful" poetry. Sired by the vampire Drusilla, William became an unusually passionate and romantic vampire. Alongside Drusilla and Angelus, William acquired the nickname Spike for his preferred method of torturing people with railroad spikes. He was noted for killing two vampire Slayers; one at the end of the 1800s during the Boxer Rebellion, the other in 1970s New York, where Spike acquired his trademark leather duster. During the second season of the series Spike comes to Sunnydale hoping to kill a third Slayer, Buffy Summers, with whom he later forges an uneasy alliance. Over the course of Buffy, Spike falls in love with the Slayer, reacquires his soul to prove himself to Buffy and dies a hero in the show's series finale before being resurrected in the fifth season of spin-off series Angel.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
Spike
spīk, n. an ear of corn: (bot.) an inflorescence in which sessile flowers, or flowers having very short stalks, are arranged around an axis: a small pointed rod: a large nail.—v.t. to set with spikes: to stop the vent of with a cast-iron spike driven in hard and then broken off, as by soldiers obliged to abandon their own guns or unable to remove those of the enemy which they have captured.—adjs. Spī′cate, Spī′cose, Spī′cous, having spikes or ears, like corn; Spicif′erous, bearing spikes: having spurs; Spī′ciform, having the form of a spike.—n. Spicos′ity, state of being spicous or eared.—adjs. Spic′ūlar, resembling a dart: in the shape of, or having, sharp points; Spic′ūlate, covered with, or divided into, minute points.—n. Spic′ūle (bot.), a little spike—also Spic′ūla: a minute, slender granule or point.—adjs. Spic′ulīform; Spicūlig′enous, Spicūlif′erous, producing spicules; Spic′ūlōse, Spic′ūlous, having spicules.—ns. Spic′ūlum, a spicule; Spike′bill, a merganser, a sawbill: the marbled godwit.—p.adj. Spiked, furnished, fastened, or stopped with spikes.—ns. Spike′-extract′or, an apparatus for drawing out spikes, as from railway-ties; Spike′-fish, a kind of sail-fish; Spike′-grass, one of several American grasses with conspicuous spikelets of flowers; Spike′let, a little spike; Spike′-nail, a spike; Spike′-oil, the oil of spike, a species of lavender; Spike′-plank, a platform before the mizzen-mast of a vessel, used in Arctic voyages.—adj. Spī′ky, furnished with spikes: having a sharp point. [L. spica, an ear of corn.]
The New Hacker's Dictionary
spike
1. To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a (sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result. The word is used in several industries; telephone engineers refer to spiking a relay by inserting a pin to hold the relay in either the closed or open state, and railroaders refer to spiking a track switch so that it cannot be moved. In programming environments it normally refers to a temporary change, usually for testing purposes (as opposed to a permanent change, which would be called hardwired). 2. [borderline techspeak] A visible peak in an otherwise rather constant graph (e.g. a sudden surge in line voltage, an unexpected short “high” on a logical line in a circuit). Hackers frequently use this for a sudden short increase in some quantity such as system load or network traffic.
Editors Contribution
spikenoun
A sharp point without issue according to strict rules. 1.) a thin pointed piece of metal, wood, or another rigid material.
I see that my spike works in this vibrant atmosphere.
Etymology: Needle eyes
Submitted by Tehorah_Elyon on May 3, 2024
Suggested Resources
spike
Song lyrics by spike -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by spike on the Lyrics.com website.
Surnames Frequency by Census Records
SPIKE
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Spike is ranked #36736 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
The Spike surname appeared 608 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Spike.
81.7% or 497 total occurrences were White.
12.9% or 79 total occurrences were Black.
3.1% or 19 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
1.1% or 7 total occurrences were of two or more races.
0.9% or 6 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
Matched Categories
Usage in printed sourcesFrom:
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Anagrams for spike »
pikes
kepis
kipes
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of spike in Chaldean Numerology is: 1
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of spike in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6
Examples of spike in a Sentence
There will be a spike in the overall market because of its (Cuban rum) forbidden fruit syndrome.
We've been polling consumers every other week and the first thing that set off alarm bells for me was the spike in the number of parents who don't feel like they can afford all the school supplies this year.
My view is that unemployment will spike, come back, but then take some time to heal, if we make a full recovery, it's more likely next year than this year.
The word culture's got a cultural story. We have noticed for years that culture has a cyclical spike every year at around Labor Day. That is to say back to school time during the month of September, so we've been watching this word spike at that time for years, in recent years we've seen similar spikes at the end of semesters during finals.
There is without doubt a spike in the number of cases, especially in Forecariah and Coyah (western Guinea). The explanation is there is still resistance that has not been overcome.
Popularity rank by frequency of use
References
Translations for spike
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- تصاعدArabic
- urpa, espigaCatalan, Valencian
- smečCzech
- pig, aks, spiger, top, nagle, spids, pigskoDanish
- Nagel, Spitze, Getreideähre, Stachel, ÄhreGerman
- στάχυGreek
- spikoEsperanto
- punta, espiga, pico, pincho, clavoSpanish
- piikki, tähkäFinnish
- crampons, épiFrench
- פרץHebrew
- schiacciata, picco, scarpa chiodata, lancia, arpione, spiga, chiodo, amento, punta, cerbiattoItalian
- 牡鹿, 針, 穂, スパイク靴, 穂状花序, スパイクJapanese
- ಸ್ಪೈಕ್Kannada
- spicaLatin
- spikeNorwegian
- espicOccitan
- kolecPolish
- espinho, Espigão, espigaPortuguese
- spigia, spia, speiaRomansh
- țăruș, piron, spicRomanian
- нападать, атаковать, костыль, ударить, нагель, удар, штырь, атакa, шип, клин, шиповки, нападающий удар, колос, атакующий удар, шпиль, остриё, скачокRussian
- ipiga, ispiga, ispica, spigaSardinian
- клинSerbo-Croatian
- สไปค์Thai
- mũi nhọnVietnamese
- spigVolapük
- 穗Chinese
Get even more translations for spike »
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