• Pike

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -aɪk

    Origin 1

    Middle French pique ("long thrusting weapon"), from Old French pic ("sharp point"), and from Old English pīc ("pointed object, pick axe"),

    Online Etymology Dictionary

    ultimately a variant form of pick, with meaning narrowed.

    Cognate with Dutch piek, dialectal German Peik, Norwegian pik. Etymological twin to pique.

    Full definition of pike

    Noun

    pike

    (plural pikes)
    1. A very long thrusting spear used two-handed by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. The pike is not intended to be thrown.
      • 1790, James Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the NileEach had a small ax in the foreangle of his saddle, and a pike about fourteen feet long, the weapon with which he charged;
    2. A sharp point, such as that of the weapon.
    3. Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, .
    4. A turnpike.
    5. A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe, found in old-fashioned footwear.
      • 1861, The comprehensive history of England Vol. 1During the earlier part of this period, the long pike disappeared from the shoe, but in the later part it returned in greater longitude than ever.
      • 1904, George Nicholls, A History of the English Poor Law in Connection with the State of the Country and the Condition of the PeopleThus the statute of Edward IV of England, which forbade the fine gentlemen of those times, under the degree of a lord, to wear pikes upon their shoes or boots of more than two inches in length, was a law that savoured of oppression, because, however ridiculous the fashion might appear, the restraining of it by pecuniary penalties would serve no purpose of common utility.
    6. (diving) A dive position with knees straight and a tight bend at the hips.
    7. (obsolete, UK, dialect) A hayfork.
    8. (obsolete) A pick.
    9. A large haycock.

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To attack, prod, or injure someone with a pike.
    2. (Australia, New Zealand, slang, often with "on" or "out") To quit or back out of a promise.Don't pike on me like you did last time!

    Derived terms

    Pronunciation

    Origin 2

    Perhaps a special use of Etymology 1, above; or from an early Scandinavian language, compare Norwegian pik ("summit").

    Noun

    pike

    (plural pikes)
    1. (now UK regional) A mountain peak or summit.
      • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.ii.3:The pike of Teneriffe how high it is? 70 miles? or 50, as Patricius holds? or 9, as Snellius demonstrates in his Eratosthenes?

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