spike
/spaɪk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.96 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
noun
A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
Example Sentences
- "The trap was lined with spikes."
- "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."
- "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."
- "As well as the boom in off-peak leisure numbers, "there has been a big spike in passenger assistance - that's really taken off as well", he continues. "We're probably victims of our own success because we promote this more than we ever used to. We promote how accessible the railways are. I think that this area has more than doubled from pre-COVID levels."
- "It was all true, it appeared. He sat down and wrote it, the editor read it and said: ' We don't use stories like this in this newspaper.' So the story ended up on the spike, reinforcing the principle that wife-swapping, unlike justice, must not be seen to be done."
- "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."
Etymology
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”). Cognate with Icelandic spík (“spike”), Swedish spik (“spike, nail”), Dutch spijker (“nail”), Old English spīcing (“spike”), and Latin spīca (“ear of corn”), which may have influenced some senses.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.