spike

Meanings

A sort of very large nail.
A piece of pointed metal etc. set with points upward or outward.
Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
An ear of corn or grain.
A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
A running shoe with spikes in the sole to provide grip.
A sharp peak in a graph.
A surge in power or in the price of a commodity, etc.; any sudden and brief change that would be represented by a sharp peak on a graph.
The long, narrow part of a high-heeled shoe that elevates the heel.
A long nail for storing papers by skewering them; the metaphorical place where rejected newspaper articles are sent.
An attack from, usually, above the height of the net performed with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.
An adolescent male deer.
The casual ward of a workhouse.
Spike lavender.
Synonym of endpin.
A mark indicating where a prop or other item should be placed on stage.

To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails.
To set or furnish with spikes.
To embed nails into (a tree) so that any attempt to cut it down will damage equipment or injure people.
To fix on a spike.
To discard; to decide not to publish or make public.
To increase sharply.
To covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance into a drink.
To add a small amount of one substance to another.
To attack from, usually, above the height of the net with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.
To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole.
(football slang) To slam the football to the ground, usually in celebration of scoring a touchdown, or to stop expiring time on the game clock after snapping the ball as to save time for the losing team to attempt to score the tying or winning points.

From Middle English spike, spyke, spik , from Old Norse spík, from Proto-Germanic *spīkō, from Proto-Indo-European *spey-. Cognate with Icelandic spík, Swedish spik, Dutch spijker, Old English spīcing, and Latin spīca, which may have influenced some senses.

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