spike

Definitions

1. noun

   A sort of very large nail.

2. noun

   A piece of pointed metal etc. set with points upward or outward.

   Example

   • The trap was lined with spikes.
3. noun

   Anything resembling such a nail in shape.

   Example

   • He vvears on his head the Corona Radiata, vvhich at that time vvas another type of his Divinity. The ſpikes that ſhoot out from the crovvn vvere to repreſent the rays of the Sun.
   ≈fang
4. noun

   An ear of corn or grain.

5. noun

   A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.

6. noun

   A running shoe with spikes in the sole to provide grip.

7. noun

   A sharp peak in a graph.

8. noun

   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.

   Example

   • If the border were shut down, consumers would most likely see an immediate spike in food prices, and supplies of fresh food could dwindle from grocery store shelves in a matter of days.
9. noun

   The rod-like protrusion from a woman's high-heeled shoe that elevates the heel.

10. noun

    A long nail for storing papers by skewering them; (by extension) the metaphorical place where rejected newspaper articles are sent.

    Examples

    • Later I was entrusted with writing the letters to the editor, because nobody else ever wrote to our paper. The editor, Eric Lewis, had a slash and burn style of editing that left its mark on me forever. Most of my stories ended up on the spike.
    • Assuming that word of the death reached the Times's newsroom at all, it would have taken little more than one bleary-eyed night editor who had heard neither of Ventris nor of linear B for the obituary to have been consigned to the spike.
    ≈spindle