subs. (tramps’).—A casual ward. SPIKE-RANGER = a tramper from ward to ward.
1866. Temple Bar, xvi. 184. Let the SPIKES be what they may they were a great deal better than the padding-kens.
1897. Quiver, 846. I sat there for two hours anxiously looking for a typical SPIKE-RANGER—one … who can tell you with amazing accuracy precisely what you may expect at any given workhouse.
1900. 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.
2. (venery).—An erection: see HORN. As verb. = to copulate: see RIDE; SPIKE-FAGGOT = the penis. For synonyms, see CREAMSTICK and PRICK.
