# spike

Pronunciation: say "SPYK" /spaɪk/

## Verb

1. To increase sharply, rising steeply in a short time.
   - Simple: To go up suddenly and by a lot.
   - _Electricity use tends to spike on the hottest afternoons of the year._
   - _Calls to the help line spiked after the storm knocked out power across the county._
6. To add alcohol or a drug to a drink, especially without the drinker knowing.
   - Simple: To put alcohol or a drug into a drink, often secretly.
   - _Police warned customers that several drinks at the bar had been spiked over the weekend._
   - _My uncle likes to spike his eggnog with a splash of rum._
8. In volleyball, to hit the ball from high up, usually above the net, aiming to send it straight down to the opponents' floor or off their blockers' hands.
   - Simple: In volleyball, to hit the ball hard and down over the net from high up.
   - _The outside hitter spiked the ball off the blocker's fingertips and out of bounds._
   - _Coaches teach hitters to spike at the seam between two blockers._
12. To add a small amount of one substance to another, as when preparing a sample for testing.
   - Simple: To add a small amount of one thing to another.
   - _Technicians spike each blank sample with a known amount of lead to check the instrument._
   - _The soil had been spiked with nitrogen to see how quickly the plants absorbed it._
13. In American football, to slam the ball to the ground, usually to celebrate a touchdown, or right after the snap to stop the clock and save time for a trailing team. *(slang)*
   - Simple: In American football, to throw the ball hard at the ground, to celebrate a touchdown or to stop the game clock.
   - _Trailing by three, the quarterback rushed his team to the line to spike the ball with four seconds left._
   - _After his first touchdown, the rookie spiked the football so hard it bounced into the stands._
14. To fasten something in place with spikes, which are long, large nails.
   - Simple: To fix something in place with very big nails.
   - _Track crews spike the rails to the wooden ties every few feet._
   - _The dock planks were spiked down so the high water could not lift them._
15. To fit or furnish something with spikes.
   - Simple: To put spikes on something.
   - _Builders spike the ledges of city buildings so pigeons cannot roost there._
   - _His leather jacket was spiked along both shoulders with sharp steel points._
16. To discard something; especially, to decide not to publish or make public a story or report.
   - Simple: To throw something out, especially a news story, and decide not to print or share it.
   - _Executives spiked the report after the company threatened to sue._
   - _Editors rarely spike a story this big without a very good reason._
18. To fix something in place by pushing it onto a spike.
   - Simple: To push something onto a sharp metal point to hold it.
   - _She spiked each paid bill on the nail beside the register._
   - _The campers spike chunks of meat on sharpened sticks and hold them over the fire._
21. To inject a drug into the body with a syringe. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To put a drug into the body through a needle.
   - _Outreach workers hand out clean syringes so that people who spike do not have to share needles._
   - _He spiked for six years, and the needle marks on his arms never fully faded._
24. To sabotage a tree by inserting nails that will damage cutting equipment or injure someone if the tree is cut down.
   - Simple: To hammer nails into a tree so that cutting it down will break the saw or hurt someone.
   - _The group threatened to spike every tree in the timber sale to keep the chainsaws out._
   - _Loggers refused to work the stand after learning that someone had spiked the oldest firs._
25. To block a gun's touch hole with a metal spike hammered into it, preventing the gun from firing.
   - Simple: To stop an old gun from working by hammering a metal spike into the small hole used to fire it.
   - _Rather than let the battery fall to the enemy, the captain ordered his men to spike the guns._
   - _Before retreating, the gunners spiked every cannon they could not drag away._

## Noun

2. A sudden, brief surge in something such as power or the price of a commodity; any short, sharp change that would show as a peak on a graph.
   - Simple: A sudden, short rise in something, such as power or prices.
   - _Drought in the growing regions caused a spike in coffee prices._
   - _A brief voltage spike can damage a computer that isn't on a surge protector._
3. A pointed piece of metal or other material, set with its point facing up or out.
   - Simple: A sharp, pointed piece of metal or other material that sticks up or out.
   - _Rows of iron spikes on the window ledges keep pigeons from landing._
   - _The old castle gate had a spike at the top of every bar._
4. A kind of very large nail.
   - Simple: A very big, strong nail.
   - _Each tie was fastened to the rail with four steel spikes._
   - _He hammered a spike through the beam to hold the frame together._
5. Anything shaped like a large nail, long and pointed.
   - Simple: Anything with a long, pointed shape like a big nail.
   - _The cactus is covered in long, needle-thin spikes._
   - _A single spike of rock rose out of the sea near the harbor._
7. A sharp peak on a graph, rising and falling steeply.
   - Simple: A sharp, pointed high point on a graph.
   - _Each spike on the seismograph marks a separate tremor._
   - _The line stays flat for months, then shows two tall spikes in July._
9. In volleyball, an attacking hit made, usually, from above the height of the net, meant to send the ball straight to the opponents' floor or off their blockers' hands.
   - Simple: In volleyball, a hard hit from high up that sends the ball down over the net.
   - _The setter's perfect lift gave him an easy spike down the line._
   - _Their blockers got a hand on almost every spike in the second set._
10. A running shoe whose sole is set with sharp points for grip. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A running shoe with small sharp points under it so it grips the ground.
   - _Sprinters lace up their spikes just before they settle into the blocks._
   - _He hadn't laced his left spike tightly enough, and it came off in the mud on the first hill._
11. The thin, rod-like heel that raises the back of a woman's high-heeled shoe.
   - Simple: The thin, tall heel on some women's high-heeled shoes.
   - _One spike snapped clean off as she ran for the train._
   - _The guests' spikes left little dents all over the wooden dance floor._
17. A long nail on which papers are stored by pushing them onto it; by extension, the imagined place where rejected newspaper stories are sent.
   - Simple: A long nail for holding papers, or the place where a newspaper sends stories it will not print.
   - _The cook pushed each finished order slip down onto the spike beside the grill._
   - _The editor sent the gossip column straight to the spike._
19. A type of flower cluster in which stalkless flowers grow along a single long, unbranched stem.
   - Simple: A long stem with flowers growing straight on it, without small stalks of their own.
   - _The plantain's tiny flowers crowd along a slender spike._
   - _Gladiolus flowers open one after another, from the bottom of the spike to the top._
20. An ear of corn or other grain.
   - Simple: The part at the top of a grain plant that holds the seeds.
   - _She rubbed a spike of barley between her palms to free the grain._
   - _By late July the wheat spikes had turned gold and were bending under their weight._
22. In software engineering, a small project that uses the simplest possible program to explore possible solutions to a problem.
   - Simple: In software work, a small, quick test project to find out whether an idea can work.
   - _The team ran a two-day spike to see whether the new database could handle the load._
   - _Before estimating the feature, we'll do a spike on the payment service's API._
23. A mark on the stage showing where a prop or other item should be placed.
   - Simple: A small mark on a stage floor that shows where to put a prop or other object.
   - _The stagehand set the armchair exactly on its spike before the curtain rose._
   - _Every table leg had its own spike, marked in glow tape for the blackout._
26. An adolescent male deer.
   - Simple: A young male deer that is not yet an adult.
   - _A spike wandered into the yard, its first thin antlers barely showing._
   - _Through the binoculars she counted three does and a spike at the edge of the field._
27. A species of lavender, known in full as spike lavender.
   - Simple: A kind of lavender plant, known in full as spike lavender.
   - _The varnish recipe called for a few drops of oil of spike._
   - _Spike grows wild on the dry, rocky hillsides behind the village._
28. Another name for an endpin, on a stringed instrument such as a cello.
   - Simple: Another name for the endpin of a stringed instrument such as a cello.
   - _She pulled out the cello's spike and tightened the screw to hold it._
   - _Halfway through the solo, the spike slipped on the polished floor._
29. The part of a workhouse, known as the casual ward, that took in vagrants and other homeless people for the night. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A place in an old workhouse where people with no home could stay for a night.
   - _Tramps lined up outside the spike every evening, hoping for a bed and a mug of tea._
   - _He spent the winter walking from one county's spikes to the next._
30. An Anglican whose high church views and practices are regarded as excessive.
   - Simple: An Anglican who likes very formal church ceremony much more than most people think is right.
   - _Some of the older parishioners grumbled that the new curate was a bit of a spike._
   - _The college chapel had long been a haven for spikes who loved candles, vestments and plainsong._

## Origin

From Middle English spike, spyke, spik, from Old Norse spík (“spike, sprig”), from Proto-Germanic *spīkō (“stick, splinter, point”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“to be pointed; sharp point, stick”). It is cognate with Icelandic spík (“spike”), Swedish spik (“spike, nail”), Dutch spijker (“nail”) and Old English spīcing (“spike”), and with Latin spīca (“ear of corn”), which may have influenced some senses.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/spike (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).