*pike*

n. [ Cf. Atter. ] (Zoöl.) The stingfish, or lesser weever (Tranchinus vipera). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The bichir. See Crossopterygii. [ 1913 Webster ]

or . (Zool.) See under Gar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mil.) A short pike, sometimes carried by officers of infantry, sometimes used in boarding ships; a spontoon. Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bar or lever, generally of wood, used in a windlass or capstan, for heaving anchor, and, in modified forms, for various purposes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The garfish. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A Moorish pike. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. pique; perhaps of Celtic origin; cf. W. pig a prick, a point, beak, Arm. pik pick. But cf. also L. picus woodpecker (see Pie magpie), and E. spike. Cf. Pick, n. & v., Peak, Pique. ] 1. (Mil.) A foot soldier's weapon, consisting of a long wooden shaft or staff, with a pointed steel head. It is now superseded by the bayonet. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A pointed head or spike; esp., one in the center of a shield or target. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A hayfork. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] Tusser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A pick. [ Prov. Eng. ] Wright. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A pointed or peaked hill. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A large haycock. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A turnpike; a toll bar. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Zool.) sing. & pl. A large fresh-water fish (Esox lucius), found in Europe and America, highly valued as a food fish; -- called also pickerel, gedd, luce, and jack. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Blue pike, grass pike, green pike, wall-eyed pike, and yellow pike, are names, not of true pike, but of the wall-eye. See Wall-eye. [ 1913 Webster ]

Gar pike. See under Gar. --
Pike perch (Zool.), any fresh-water fish of the genus Stizostedion (formerly Lucioperca). See Wall-eye, and Sauger. --
Pike pole, a long pole with a pike in one end, used in directing floating logs. --
Pike whale (Zool.), a finback whale of the North Atlantic (Balænoptera rostrata), having an elongated snout; -- called also piked whale. --
Sand pike (Zool.), the lizard fish. --
Sea pike (Zool.), the garfish (a). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnished with a pike; ending in a point; peaked; pointed. “With their piked targets bearing them down.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Pike point (fr. F. pique) + F. devant before. ] A pointed beard. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A light, thin cake or muffin. [ Prov. Eng. ] Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Pikeman 1. A soldier armed with a pike. Knolles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A miner who works with a pick. Beaconsfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A keeper of a turnpike gate. T. Hughes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The staff, or shaft, of a pike. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A staff with a spike in the lower end, to guard against slipping. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Pintail, 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) (a) The garfish. (b) A large serranoid food fish (Centropomus undecimalis) found on both coasts of America; -- called also robalo. (c) The merluce. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Akin to LG. spiker, spieker, a large nail, D. spijker, Sw. spik, Dan. spiger, Icel. spīk; all perhaps from L. spica a point, an ear of grain; but in the sense of nail more likely akin to E. spoke of a wheel. Cf. Spine. ] 1. A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything resembling such a nail in shape. [ 1913 Webster ]

He wears on his head the corona radiata . . . ; the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An ear of corn or grain. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Bot.) A kind of flower cluster in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis. [ 1913 Webster ]

Spike grass (Bot.), either of two tall perennial American grasses (Uniola paniculata, and Uniola latifolia) having broad leaves and large flattened spikelets. --
Spike rush. (Bot.) See under Rush. --
Spike shell (Zool.), 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. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Spiked p. pr. & vb. n. Spiking. ] 1. To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails; as, to spike down planks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To set or furnish with spikes. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To fix on a spike. [ R. ] Young. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To stop the vent of (a gun or cannon) by driving a spike nail, or the like into it. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. G. spieke, L. spica an ear of grain. See Spikenard. ] (Bot.) Spike lavender. See Lavender. [ 1913 Webster ]

Oil of spike (Chem.), 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) (a) The hooded merganser. (b) The marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Furnished or set with spikes, as corn; fastened with spikes; stopped with spikes. [ 1913 Webster ]

A youth, leaping over the spiked pales, . . . was caught by those spikes. Wiseman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Sailfish (a) [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A small or secondary spike; especially, one of the ultimate parts of the in florescence of grasses. See Illust. of Quaking grass. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.[ For spiked nard; cf. G. spieknarde, NL. spica nardi. See Spike an ear, and Nard. ] 1. (Bot.) An aromatic plant. In the United States it is the Aralia racemosa, often called spignet, and used as a medicine. The spikenard of the ancients is the Nardostachys Jatamansi, a native of the Himalayan region. From its blackish roots a perfume for the hair is still prepared in India. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A fragrant essential oil, as that from the Nardostachys Jatamansi. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The pintail duck. [ Local, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Turn + pike. ] 1. A frame consisting of two bars crossing each other at right angles and turning on a post or pin, to hinder the passage of beasts, but admitting a person to pass between the arms; a turnstile. See Turnstile, 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

I move upon my axle like a turnpike. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A gate or bar set across a road to stop carriages, animals, and sometimes people, till toll is paid for keeping the road in repair; a tollgate. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A turnpike road. De Foe. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A winding stairway. [ Scot. ] Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mil.) A beam filled with spikes to obstruct passage; a cheval-de-frise. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Turnpike man, a man who collects tolls at a turnpike. --
Turnpike road, a road on which turnpikes, or tollgates, are established by law, in order to collect from the users tolls to defray the cost of building, repairing, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Turnpiked p. pr. & vb. n. Turnpiking. ] To form, as a road, in the manner of a turnpike road; to throw into a rounded form, as the path of a road. Knowles. [ 1913 Webster ]