spike

IPA: spˈaɪk

A sort of very large nail.
A piece of pointed metal etc. set with points upward or outward.
(by extension) Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
An ear of corn or grain.
(botany) A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
(informal, chiefly in the plural) 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.
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.
(volleyball) 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.
(zoology) An adolescent male deer.
(slang, historical) The casual ward of a workhouse.
Spike lavender.
(music, lutherie) Synonym of endpin.
(theater) A mark indicating where a prop or other item should be placed on stage.
(software engineering, XP) A small project that uses the simplest possible program to explore potential solutions.
A male nickname.
A surname transferred from the nickname.

To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails.
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.
(figurative, journalism) To discard; to decide not to publish or make public.
To increase sharply.
To covertly put alcohol or a drug into a drink.
To add a small amount of one substance to another.
(volleyball) 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.
(military) To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole.
(American football slang) 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.
(slang) To inject a drug with a syringe.

Examples of "spike" in Sentences

I thought the girls dress code here was Daisy Duke in spike heels.
(That explains why I didn't have a pain spike when I went from it to Gabitril).
Mr. Belton says a near-term spike in Treasury rates isn't likely, even without a debt deal.
"The roll you get in the 'spike' is that 'ard you can't eat it nicely with less'n a pint of water," said the Carpenter, for my benefit.
` The roll you get in the "spike" is that 'ard you can't eat it nicely with less'n a pint of water,' said the Carpenter, for my benefit.
A short-term spike in borrowing costs is a manageable problem for Italy, since only a small part of its debts need to be refinanced at a given time.
Iran is threatening to close the Strait because it knows it can be squeezed out of the oil market without a significant long-term spike in oil prices.
Local Government Association chief John Ransford said there had been a "short term spike" in redundancies as councils made changes to cut long-term costs.
At first, OPM officials attributed the poor performance to what they described as a spike in traffic from first-time visitors and old members logging in to check passwords.