pike
IPA: pˈaɪk
noun
- (military, historical) A very long spear used two-handed by infantry soldiers for thrusting (not throwing), both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assaults.
- A sharp, pointed staff or implement.
- A large haycock (“conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack”).
- Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
- (diving, gymnastics) A position with the knees straight and a tight bend at the hips with the torso folded over the legs, usually part of a jack-knife.
- (fashion, dated) A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
- (historical) A style of shoes with pikes, popular in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
- (chiefly Northern England) Especially in place names: a hill or mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak or summit.
- (obsolete) A pick, a pickaxe.
- (obsolete, Britain, dialectal) A hayfork.
- (obsolete, often euphemistic) A penis.
- (derogatory, ethnic slur, slang) A gypsy, itinerant tramp, or traveller from any ethnic background; a pikey.
- A surname from Middle English.
- A number of places in the United States:
- A census-designated place in Sierra County, California.
- An unincorporated community in Boone County, Indiana, first named Pikes Crossing, at the crossing of a turnpike.
- An unincorporated community in Haverhill, Grafton County, New Hampshire.
- A town, hamlet, and census-designated place therein, in Wyoming County, New York.
- An unincorporated community in Collin County, Texas.
- An unincorporated community in Ritchie County, West Virginia, named for a turnpike intersection.
- A number of townships in the United States, listed under Pike Township.
- (US, slang) A member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
- (chiefly US) Clipping of turnpike. [A frame consisting of two bars crossing each other at right angles and turning on a post or pin, to hinder the passage of animals, but admitting a person to pass between the arms; a turnstile.]
verb
- (transitive) To prod, attack, or injure someone with a pike.
- (transitive, intransitive, diving, gymnastics) To assume a pike position.
- (intransitive, gambling) To bet or gamble with only small amounts of money.
- (intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Often followed by on or out: to quit or back out of a promise.
- (intransitive) To equip with a turnpike.
- (intransitive, obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) To depart or travel (as if by a turnpike), especially to flee, to run away.
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Examples of "pike" in Sentences
- One of the best thing to come down the pike is the internet.
- Father made him what he called a pike net which had two wings.
- By the way, "pike" is short for "turnpike," which comes from the old word "pike" meaning spear, or pointed wood shaft.
- After cleaning a catch of October northern pike from a SW Colorado lake, I put the remains in front of my game cam to see what critters show up.
- The version I ate in Helsinki was made with what they call pike-perch, but any sustainable white-fleshed fish that holds together well can be used.
- The stimulus money coming down the pike is a great opportunity for local governments and transit agencies to try to make the case for funding important priorities.
- The infantry have for their defense a breast plate of iron, and for offense a lance nine armlengths long, which they call a pike, and a sword at their side, rather round in the point than sharp.
- IV. iii.27 (` is rest to do more exploits with his mace than a morris pike] [W: a Maurice-pike] This conjecture is very ingenious, yet the commentator talks unnecessarily of the _rest of a musket. _ by which he makes the hero of the speech set up the _rest_ of a _musket, _ to do exploits with a _pike.
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