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Entry 9 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Spike

/spīk/ · IPA /spaɪk/
01 n. A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward.
  1. 1.
    A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward.
  2. 2.
    Anything resembling such a nail in shape.
    “He wears on his head the corona radiata . . . ; the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun.” — Addison.
  3. 3.
    An ear of corn or grain.
  4. 4.
    A kind of flower cluster in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.(Bot.)
Phrases & compounds
Spike grass — either of two tall perennial American grasses (Uniola paniculata, and Uniola latifolia) having broad leaves and large flattened spikelets.
Spike rush — See under Rush.
Spike shell — any pteropod of the genus Styliola having a slender conical shell.
Spike team — three horses, or a horse and a yoke of oxen, harnessed together, a horse leading the oxen or the span.
02 v. t. To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails; as, to spike down planks.
imp. & p. p. Spiked; p. pr. & vb. n. Spiking
  1. 1.
    To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails; as, to spike down planks.
  2. 2.
    To set or furnish with spikes.
  3. 3.
    To fix on a spike.[R.]
  4. 4.
    To stop the vent of (a gun or cannon) by driving a spike nail, or the like into it.
03 n. Spike lavender. See Lavender.
  1. 1.
    Spike lavender. See Lavender.(Bot.) See: Lavender
Phrases & compounds
Oil of spike — a colorless or yellowish aromatic oil extracted from the European broad-leaved lavender, or aspic (Lavendula Spica), used in artist's varnish and in veterinary medicine. It is often adulterated with oil of turpentine, which it much resembles.