Unspike

v. [UN-² 3, 4 b.]

  1.  trans. To extract a spike from (a cannon).

1680.  Exact Jrnl. Siege Tangier, 6. The Moors took our Guns…, and unspik’d them, & clear’d them.

1842.  R. Burn, Naval & Mil. Dict. (1852), 118/2. Désenclouer, to unspike a piece of ordnance.

c. 1860.  H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 14. Suppose your gun is spiked…, how will you unspike it?

  2.  To release by the removal of a spike.

1846.  Edin. Rev., Oct., 504. In this case the iron bar [sc. rail], worn thin and unspiked, gets detached from the plank.