Spike
Spike , noun
[Akin to LG. spiker, spieker, a large nail, Dutch spijker, Swedish spik, Danish spiger, Icelandic spīk; all perhaps from Latin spica a point, an ear of grain; but in the sense of nail more likely akin to English spoke of a wheel. Compare Spine.]
1.
A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward.
2.
Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
He wears on his head the corona radiata...; the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun.
3.
An ear of corn or grain.
4.
(Botany) A kind of flower cluster in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
Collocations (4)
Spike grass (Botany) , either of two tall perennial American grasses (Uniola paniculata, and Uniola latifolia) having broad leaves and large flattened spikelets.
Spike shell (Zoology) , any pteropod of the genus Styliola having a slender conical shell.
Spike team , three horses, or a horse and a yoke of oxen, harnessed together, a horse leading the oxen or the span. [United States]
Spike , transitive verb
1.
To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails; as, to spike down planks.
2.
To set or furnish with spikes.
3.
To fix on a spike. [Rare] — Young
4.
To stop the vent of (a gun or cannon) by driving a spike nail, or the like into it.
Spike , noun
[Compare German spieke, Latin spica an ear of grain. See Spikenard.]
(Botany) Spike lavender. See Lavender.
Collocations (1)
Oil of spike (Chemistry) , a colorless or yellowish aromatic oil extracted from the European broad-leaved lavender, or aspic (Lavendula Spica), used in artist's varnish and in veterinary medicine. It is often adulterated with oil of turpentine, which it much resembles.