pike
see also: Pike
Pronunciation Noun
Pike
Proper noun
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.005
see also: Pike
Pronunciation Noun
pike (plural pikes)
- (military, historical) A very long#Adjective|long spear#Noun|spear used two-handed by infantry soldier#Noun|soldiers for thrust#Verb|thrusting (not throw#Verb|throwing), both for attack#Noun|attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assault#Noun|assaults.
- 1825 June 21, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of the Crusaders. [...] In Four Volumes, volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: Printed [by James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., OCLC 5584494 ↗, page 71 ↗:
- Wounded and overthrown, the Britons continued their resistance, clung round the legs of the Norman steeds, and cumbered their advance; while their brethren, thrusting with pikes, proved every joint and crevice of the plate and mail, or grappling with the men-at-arms, strove to pull them from their horses by main force, or beat them down with their bills and Welch hooks.
- A sharp#Adjective|sharp point#Noun|point, such as that of the weapon.
- A large haycock.
- Any carnivorous freshwater fish#Noun|fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
- (diving, gymnastics) A position#Noun|position with the knee#Noun|knees straight#Adjective|straight and a tight bend#Noun|bend at the hip#Noun|hips with the torso fold#Verb|folded over the leg#Noun|legs, usually part of a jack-knife. [from 1920s]
- (fashion, dated) A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
- 1765, William Blackstone, “Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press, OCLC 65350522 ↗, page 122 ↗:
- Thus the ſtatute of king Edward IV, which forbad the fine gentlemen of thoſe times (under the degree of a lord) to wear pikes upon their ſhoes or boots of more than two inches in length, was a law that ſavoured of oppreſſion; becauſe, however ridiculous the faſhion then in uſe might appear, the reſtraining of it by pecuniary penalties could ſerve no purpoſe of common utility.
- (chiefly, Northern England) Especially in place names: a hill or mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak#Noun|peak or summit.
- Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England.
- 1614 October 31 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Bartholomew Fayre: […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: Printed for Richard Meighen, published 1640–1641, OCLC 51546498 ↗, Act III, scene iv, page 49 ↗:
- I will thrust my ſelfe into the ſtocks, vpon the pikes of the Land.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Ayre Rectified. With a Digression of the Ayre.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗, partition 2, section 2, member 3, page 209 ↗:
- The pike of Teneriffe how high it is? 70 miles or 52, as Patritius holds: {{...}
- (obsolete) A pick#Noun|pick, a pickaxe.
- (obsolete, Britain, dialectal) A hayfork.
- 1580, Thomas Tusser, “A Digression to Husbandlie Furniture”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: […], imprinted at London: By Henrie Denham [beeing the assigne of William Seres] […], OCLC 837741850 ↗; republished as W[illiam] Payne and Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, OCLC 7391867535 ↗, stanza 15, page 37 ↗:
- Short rakes for to gather vp barlie to binde, / and greater to rake vp such leauings behinde: / A rake for to hale vp the fitchis that lie, / A pike for to pike them vp handsom to drie.
- (obsolete, often, euphemistic) A penis.
- c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: Printed by V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, OCLC 55178895 ↗, [Act II, scene iv] ↗:
- [F]or to ſerue brauely, is to come halting off, you know to come off the breach, with his pike bent brauely, and to ſurgerie brauely, to venture vpon the chargde chambers brauely.
- {small
- (the fish species Esox lucius) see northern pike
pike (pikes, present participle piking; past and past participle piked)
- (transitive) To prod#Verb|prod, attack#Verb|attack, or injure someone with a pike.
- (ambitransitive, diving, gymnastics) To assume a pike position.
- (intransitive, gambling) To bet#Verb|bet or gamble#Verb|gamble with only small amounts of money.
- (intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Often followed by on or out: to quit#Verb|quit or back out of a promise#Noun|promise.
- Don’t pike on me like you did last time!
pike (plural pikes)
- Short for turnpike#English|turnpike.
- They tried out every idea that came down the pike.
- There is heavy traffic on the Mass Pike
- (derogatory, slang) A gypsy, itinerant tramp, or traveller from any ethnic background; a pikey.
pike (pikes, present participle piking; past and past participle piked)
- (intransitive) To equip with a turnpike.
- (intransitive, obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) To depart or travel#Verb|travel (as if by a turnpike), especially to flee, to run away.
Pike
Proper noun
- Surname of multiple origins, including Middle English pike.
- CDP in Sierra County, California.
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.005