[f. SPIKE a.1]

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  1.  A device for spiking a cannon.

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1868.  Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions War, 112. Figures 2 and 3 represent a spiker for guns of large calibre.

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  2.  One who spikes a gun; one who drives or hammers in a spike.

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1884.  ‘H. Collingwood’ (W. J. C. Lancaster), Under Meteor Flag, 290. I immediately withdrew the spikers, and … we silently made the best of our way to the beach.

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1887.  Sci. Amer., 18 Jan., 389. There are 32 ‘spikers’ to every five miles of track, each man of whom drives 840 spikes a day.

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