unspike
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: unspikes
form: unspiking
form: unspiked
form: unspiked
Etymology: From un- + spike.
Senses: examples: text: To unspike a cannon, attempt to drive the spike into the bore with a punch; if this succeeds, and the bore be obstructed, introduce powder into the vent to force the obstacle out.
ref: 1862, James Gilchrist Benton, A Course of Instruction in Ordnance and Gunnery, page 261:
text: However, neither the wording of the agreement nor the conduct of the parties under it lends support to the proposition that Signal Maintainers have a right either to demand that they be allowed to unspike and spike hand switches or that they be compensated when an employee of some other class performs such work.
ref: 1940, United States. National Railroad Adjustment Board, Awards - Third Division, National Railroad Adjustment Board, page 470:
text: It became necessary to move out some of the stored cars, and the carrier used a track foreman to unspike the switch. The spike had to be removed by the use of crowbars and other tools which were in the track foreman's custody.
ref: 1941, Harry Edwin Jones, Inquiry of the Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Procedure Relating to the National Railroad Adjustment Board, page 321:
text: Machine automatically unspikes the old bag and spikes the new bag .
ref: 1994, FDA Enforcement Report, page 6:
text: Oh, I'm penitent enough for the Seventh Heaven, but as to kneeling, observe, good friend, how the wicked have transfixed my extremities with nails! Why, bless you, I can move neither hand nor foot! Unspike me , friend - withdraw the iron restraints of the law and see how quickly I will kneel [upon the body of some one whom I hate. It is the dream of my life!]
ref: 2001, Ambrose Bierce, David E. Schultz, S. T. Joshi, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary, page 256:
text: He sent for some skilled blacksmiths to make the necessary tools to try to unspike them, and while this was being done, the lieutenant at Talut sent a soldier with a letter addressed to the commandant of the marines, to ask him whether he should obey the order he had received from his captain to spike the cannons.
ref: 2013, Jean-François-Benjamin Dumont de Montigny, Gordon M. Sayre, Carla Zecher, The Memoir of Lieutenant Dumont, 1715–1747, page 304:
text: unspiking the vent of a cannon
glosses: To remove a spike from.
examples: text: He can easily unspike his hair and float the skateboard down the river.
ref: 2010, Peter Helton, Falling More Slowly:
text: Josie had interviewed Colt for an evening dispatcher's position about a year ago, but the girl had refused to unspike her hair or remove her facial piercings.
ref: 2011, Tricia Fields, The Territory: A Mystery, page 81:
text: Her hair was beginning to unspike, and her clothes were plastered to her like a second skin.
ref: 2017, Jill Shalvis, A Royal Mess:
glosses: To make or become less spiky.
examples: text: The applied (or absorbed) microwave power in the plasma does not appear to have a first order affect on the conditions at which the plasma either spikes or unspikes.
ref: 1993, John L. Power, Preliminary Investigation of High Power Microwave Plasmas, page 7:
text: And everybody thought for sure that this woman would never, ever leave the hospital. That she'd never unspike [ return to normal body temperature ], that she'd develop antibiotic-resistant germs, that she couldn't have physical therapy, couldn't have her wound handled couldn't have this stuff done.
ref: 2001, Nicholas A. Christakis, Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care, page 174:
text: The TRACE images were calibrated using the TRACE instrument software package, trace-prep, including wave2point, destreak, deripple, unspike, and normalize.
ref: 2009, Bruce W. Lites, The Second Hinode Science Meeting, page 16:
glosses: To return to a normal level after a very high spike.
examples: text: HOW TO UNSPIKE OUR SWEETS Our spiked desserts ( pages 104-105 ) have real punch!
ref: 1984, Red Book - Volume 163:
glosses: To neutralize the alcohol (or other adulterant) in a food, drink, or other substance.