pike
see also: Pike
Pronunciation Noun

pike (plural pikes)

  1. (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.
  2. A sharp#Adjective|sharp point#Noun|point, such as that of the weapon.
  3. A large haycock.
  4. Any carnivorous freshwater fish#Noun|fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
  5. (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]
  6. (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.
  7. (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: {{...}
  8. (obsolete) A pick#Noun|pick, a pickaxe.
  9. (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.
  10. (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.
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Synonyms Translations Translations Verb

pike (pikes, present participle piking; past and past participle piked)

  1. (transitive) To prod#Verb|prod, attack#Verb|attack, or injure someone with a pike.
  2. (ambitransitive, diving, gymnastics) To assume a pike position.
  3. (intransitive, gambling) To bet#Verb|bet or gamble#Verb|gamble with only small amounts of money.
  4. (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!
Noun

pike (plural pikes)

  1. Short for turnpike#English|turnpike.
    They tried out every idea that came down the pike.
    There is heavy traffic on the Mass Pike
  2. (derogatory, slang) A gypsy, itinerant tramp, or traveller from any ethnic background; a pikey.
Verb

pike (pikes, present participle piking; past and past participle piked)

  1. (intransitive) To equip with a turnpike.
  2. (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
  1. Surname of multiple origins, including Middle English pike.
  2. CDP in Sierra County, California.



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