Also 4 spyk, 5 spyke. [Of doubtful origin: agrees in form and meaning with MSw. spīk, spijk, Sw. and Norw. spik nail, which may be a shortened form of MLG. spîker (LG. spiker, spieker; hence G. spiker, Da. spiger, Norw. spikar), = MDu. spīker, spijcker (Du. spijker), Fris. spiker, spikker (perh. from Du. and LG.), MHG. spîcher (G. dial. speicher-): see SPIKER1. It is possible that these may in some way be derived from L. spīca SPIKE sb.1, as OF. espi, F. épi, Sp. and Pg. espiga have senses nearly or altogether coincident with those of ‘spike.’
The evidence for a MDu. spike sb. or spiken v. is very slender: see Verdam, s.vv. The Swed. and Norw. words differ in gender from Norw. spik, Icel. spík fem., ‘splinter, thin worn-out scythe,’ and are prob. unconnected with this.]
1. A sharp-pointed piece of metal (esp. iron) or wood used for fastening things securely together; a large and strong kind of nail.
Cf. the earlier SPIKE-NAIL and SPIKING sb.
1345–6. in Nicholas, Hist. Royal Navy (1847), II. 477. [Nails, called] glots, midelglots, spikes, rundnails, cloutnails [and] lednails.
1390. Earl Derby’s Exp. (Camden), 26. Pro Mlcc spyks, vj s.
1486. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 15. c lb of spykes … xxvs ijd; also for xl lb spikes.
a. 1616. Bacon, Adv. Villiers, Wks. 1778, II. 270. We need not borrow of any other iron for spikes, or nails to fasten them together.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seaman’s Gram., xi. 53. It is strongly nailed with Spikes.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Speeks or Spikes,… great and long Iron-nails with flat Heads and of divers Lengths.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, II. (Globe), 411. In this Manner he made many Things, but especially Hooks, Staples, and Spikes, Bolts and Hinges.
1753. Hanway, Trav., II. xvi. (1762), I. 69. Instead of iron bolts, they have spikes of deal.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 565. Fasten them together by pins, spikes, or bolts, as the case may require.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 839/2. The following table shows the amount of spikes to a mile of railroad.
b. A pointed piece of steel used for driving into the touch-hole of a cannon in order to render it unserviceable.
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 166. Some were found having spikes and hammers to cloy the cannon.
1828. J. M. Spearman, Brit. Gunner (ed. 2), 385. There are two descriptions of spikes in the service. The common conical spike, which serves for all natures of ordnance, is 4 inches long.
1859. Griffiths, Artill. Man. (1862), 60. For Spiking Ordnance, two kinds of spikes are used:… The Common Spike…. The Spring, or temporary spike.
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 395/1. Spikes form a portion of the stores of a battery.
2. A sharp-pointed piece of metal (or other hard material) that is, or may be, so fixed in something that the point is turned outwards; a stout sharp-pointed projecting part of a metal object.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, X. 42. Sa tha sam folk he send to the dep furd, Gert set the ground with scharp spykis off burd.
1532–3. in E. Law, Hampton Crt. Pal. (1885), 347. Item 11 spikes of Irne to stand uppon the sayd typys.
1676. Wiseman, Surg. Treat., V. iii. 359. In his falling he was catcht by one of those Spikes in the middle of his Wrist.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Movement, The gutter’d Wheel, with Iron Spikes at bottom, wherein the Line of ordinary Clocks runs.
1791. Bentham, Panopt., I. Postscr. 137. But a person cannot press against the point of a spike as he could against a bar.
1820. Shelley, Let. M. Gisborne, 35. Spain … grew dim with Empire:—With thumbscrews, wheels, with tooth and spike and jag.
1846. Holtzapffel, Turning, II. 818. The length of files is always measured exclusively of the tang or spike, by which the file is fixed in its handle.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xi. 83. The iron spike at the end of the baton made a hole sufficiently deep [etc.].
b. transf. A stiff sharp-pointed object or part.
1718. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Abbé Conti, 31 July. The spikes or thorns are as long and sharp as bodkins.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), I. 38. Shoes with long points or spikes … were worn. Some of these spikes were an ell long.
1850. Dickens, T. Two Cities, II. i. His son was garnished with tenderer spikes [of hair].
1868. Morris, Earthly Par., II. 261. Then shot up on high A steady spike of light.
c. A young mackerel.
1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 298. The small fish [Mackerel] six and a half or seven inches in length;… ‘Fish of this size are sometimes called “Spikes.”’
† 3. A handspike. Obs.–1
1771. Act 1 Geo. III., c. 45 § 7. To purchase or make … Winches, Spikes, Dams, Flood Gates and Engines for the completing and carrying on the said Navigation.
1802. James, Mil. Dict., Spikes, in gunnery. See Hand-Spikes.
4. slang. The workhouse.
1894. D. C. Murray, Making of Novelist, 107. To sleep in the workhouse is to go ‘on the spike.’
1899. ‘J. Flynt,’ Tramping with Tramps, 260. The next two nights of our stay as tramps in London were spent in the Notting Hill casual ward, or ‘spike,’ as it is called in tramp parlance.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. Attrib., in the sense ‘resembling or formed like a spike,’ as spike bit, bowsprit, gimlet, rod.
1766. Museum Rust., VI. 392. A hole made with a spike gimblet.
1815. Hist. J. Decastro, I. 109. The man, who had a spike-bit in his hand, and would have forced the door.
1856. Morton, Cycl. Agric., II. 721/2. Rods of hazel, &c., split and twisted for use by the thatcher (spike rods).
1895. Daily News, 19 June, 3/2. With nothing standing but her spike bowsprit, which was painted white.
b. In the sense ‘provided or furnished with spikes,’ as spike-roller, -wheel.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Linc., 74. A capital spike-roller, which cost £40.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 27. It is, perhaps, a more efficient implement than the spike-roller.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2267/2. Spike-wheel Propeller.
c. Misc., as spike-hole; spike-horned, -leaved, -like, -tailed adjs.; spike-wise adv.
Also spike-drawer, -extractor (Knight, 1875).
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 45. They were forced to … spile the *Spike-holes.
1890. W. P. Lett, in Shields, Big Game N. Amer., 84. There is a difference … between the branching and *spike-horned Deer.
1864. G. P. Marsh, Man & Nature, 109. Dead trees, especially of the *spike-leaved kinds,… are often allowed to stand until they fall of themselves.
1896. Mabel L. Miller, in Pop. Sci. Monthly, L. 207. It was chipped as desired with a *spikelike stone implement.
1884. E. Ingersoll, in Harper’s Mag., Sept., 514/2. You needn’t worry about any *spike-tailed coat or clerical tie.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., Spike-tailed grouse, the sharp-tailed … or pin-tailed grouse.
1850. Browning, Christmas Eve, ii. I sent my elbow *spike-wise At the shutting door, and entered likewise.
1865. G. Macdonald, A. Forbes, II. v. 30. They were kept upright and in a measure awake, by the constant application, ‘spikewise,’ of the paternal elbow.
6. Special Combs.: spike-buck U.S., a buck in its first year; spike-disease, a disease affecting the leaves of certain plants and trees; spike-fish U.S., the sailfish (Histiophorus americanus); spike-horn, (a) a deer’s horn in the form of a spike; (b) a spike-buck (so spike-horn buck); spike-machine (see quot.); spike-maul, a mallet for driving in spikes; spike-nose U.S. (see quot.); † spike-park slang, the grounds of a prison; spike-pole dial. (see quot. 1841); also, a pole fitted with a spike; † spike-ring (?); † spike-shot, cannon-shot having projecting spikes; spike-tail U.S., a dress-coat; spike-team U.S. (see quots.).
1856. Mayne Reid, Hunters’ Feast, xxiii. 189. In the first year they grow in the shape of two short straight spikes; hence the name *‘spike bucks’ given to the animals of that age.
1897. Outing, XXX. 330. A tidy spike-buck splashed through a shallow.
1906. Athenæum, 24 Nov., 661/3. A suitable reward to any one who can discover the cause of *spike disease in sandal trees.
1869. Amer. Nat., Dec., 552. The *spike-horn differs greatly from the common antler of the Cervus Virginianus. Ibid., 553. The first spike-horn buck was merely an accidental freak of nature.
1897. Outing, XXIX. 439. So the gamey spikehorn turned to bay.
1851. Catal. Gt. Exhib., I. 1468/2. A *spike machine. This machine is for the purpose of making wrought spikes.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 June, 14/1. Two squads, the one armed with claw bars, the other with *spike mauls.
1891. Cent. Dict., *Spikenose.… The pike-perch, or wall-eyed pike, Stizostedion vitreum.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlii. No danger of overwalking yourself here—*spike park—grounds pretty—romantic but not extensive.
1841. Hartshorne, Salop. Ant., Gloss., *Spike-pole, a rafter eight feet long, bound with iron at its end,… used in ‘tying’ dangerous places in the roof of a pit.
1848. Thoreau, Maine W. (1894), 56–7. He uses … a long spike-pole, with a screw at the end of the spike to make it hold.
1597. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees, 1860), 267. One *spike-ringe, j paire of goulde weights, and an oulde halbarte.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Kent, II. (1662), 61. They have Round- double- head- Bur- *spike- Crow- Bar- Case- Chain shot.
1894. Howells, Trav. fr. Altruria, 180. He says he isn’t dressed for dinner; left his *spike-tail in the city.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 324. *Spike team. A waggon drawn by three horses, or by two oxen and a horse, the latter leading the oxen or span of horses.
1890. L. C. D’Oyle, Notches, 178. I got there with a loaded waggon, and a ‘spike’ team—three mules.
