pike
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /paɪk/
rhymes: -aɪk
Forms: form: pikes
Etymology: From Middle English pyke, pyk, pik, pike (“pike; sharp point, iron tip of a staff or spear, pointed toe of an item of footwear; sharp tool; mountain, peak”), from Old English pīc (“pointed object, pick axe”), and Middle French pique (“long thrusting weapon”), from Old French pic (“sharp point, spike”); both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *pīk, from Proto-Germanic *pīkaz, *pīkō (“sharp point, pike, peak”), related to pick with a narrower meaning.
The word is cognate with Middle Dutch pecke, peke, picke (modern Dutch piek), German Pike, Norwegian pik, Danish pig, and possibly Old Irish pīk. It is a doublet of pique.
The diving or gymnastics position is probably from tapered appearance of the body when the position is executed.
The carnivorous freshwater fish is probably derived from the “sharp point, spike” senses, due to the fish’s pointed jaws.
The verb sense “to quit or back out of a promise” may be from the sense of taking up pilgrim's staff or pike and leaving on a pilgrimage; and compare Middle English pī̆ken (“to go, remove oneself”) and Old Danish pikke af (“to go away”).
Senses: examples: text: An arme pike which a weake man maye use or handle very reddily with such force as a man will not thincke, and the same pike will also become a very good shotte at all tymes.
ref: c. 1558–1602, Ralph Rabbards, “[Letters on Scientific Subjects.] Ralph Rabbards to Queen Elizabeth. [MS. Lansd. No. 121. Art. 14.] A Coppie of Notes Delivered to Her Majestie by Raphe Rabbards.”, in James Orchard Halliwell, editor, Ludus Conventriæ. A Collection of Mysteries, formerly Represented at Coventry on the Feast of Corpus Christi, London: Printed for the Shakespeare Society, published 1841, →OCLC, page 11:
text: Wounded and overthrown, the Britons continued their resistance, clung round the legs of the Norman steeds, and cumbered their advance; while their brethren, thrusting with pikes, proved every joint and crevice of the plate and mail, or grappling with the men-at-arms, strove to pull them from their horses by main force, or beat them down with their bills and Welch hooks.
ref: 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume I (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 71:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A very long spear used two-handed by infantry soldiers for thrusting (not throwing), both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assaults.
examples: text: Each had a ſmall ax in the ſurcingle of his ſaddle, and a pike about fourteen feet long, the weapon with which he charged; […]
ref: 1790, James Bruce, chapter V, in Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773. In Five Volumes, volume IV, Edinburgh: Printed by J. Ruthven, for G. G. J. and J. Robinson, […], →OCLC, page 117:
text: A few months after the murder of Don Carlos, the Counts de Horn and d'Egmonte, who had long been detained in prison, notwithstanding their innocence, were put to death by the cruel Alva in the market-place at Brussels, and the heads of these two patriotic martyrs were exposed upon pikes to the view of the populace.
ref: 1855, Jules Raymond Lamé Fleury, “The Death of Don Carlos. From the Year 1567 to 1570.”, in M. C. T., transl., Historical Chapters Relating to Many Lands. Adapted for Children. Translated from the French of M. Lamé Fleury, by a Lady, London: Jackson & Walford, […], →OCLC, page 110:
glosses: A sharp, pointed staff or implement.
examples: text: On returning to the hayfield, "Where can Mr. Thorn be?" said Mrs. Merton: "I thought he was in the field." / Magenta and Solferino looked at each other; the haymakers had made a pike on top of the hay in which they had buried him. / "Mamma," said Solferino, "I believe he's under that pike!" / […] "He went to sleep," said Magenta, "and we covered him over with hay, and they have made a pike on top of him!" / "You naughty, tiresome children!" said Mrs. Merton: "what have you done?"
ref: 1866, “Mixed Pickles. (A Sea-side Story.)”, in The Ladies’ Companion, and Monthly Magazine, volume XXIX (Second Series), London: Rogerson and Tuxford, […], →OCLC, page 44, column 1:
glosses: A large haycock (“conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack”).
examples: text: And now they begin to catch the pikes, and will ſhortly the trouts (pox on theſe miniſters), and I would fain know whether the floods were ever ſo high as to get over the holly bank or the river walk; if ſo, then all my pikes are gone; but I hope not.
ref: 1711 March 10, Jonathan Swift, J[ohn] Hawkesworth, “Letter LV”, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin: […], new edition, volume XIII, London: Printed for Charles Elliot, Edinburgh, published 1784, →OCLC, pages 275–276:
text: Lord Erskine soon afterwards came to Brighton, and told Mrs. Coutts, if she would give him a dinner he would provide the fish from his own pond. She agreed; and his present proved to be an overgrown pike, weighing between thirty and forty pounds, and so hideous in its appearance that no guest touched it, the mere sight of it being perfectly disagreeable to many.
ref: 1839 November 2, “Memoirs of Harriot, Duchess of St. Albans. By Mrs. Cornwell Baron Wilson, Author of the ‘Life and Correspondence of M. G. Lewis.’ 2 vols. 12mo. London 1839. Colburn.”, in The Literary Gazette; and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., number 1189, London: Printed by Moyes and Barclay, […]; published for the proprietors, at the Literary Gazette office, […], →OCLC, page 694, column 1:
text: If you fish for pike with a live-bait, snap tackle, or spinning, it should always be with the hooks attached to gimp, in consequence of the several rows of sharp teeth with which the pike is armed, and which enable it to bite gut in two.
ref: 1879 (indicated as 1880), [Charles Dickens Jr.], “Pike”, in Dickens’s Dictionary of the Thames: From Oxford to the Nore. … An Unconventional Handbook, London: Charles Dickens, […], →OCLC; republished as Dickens’s Dictionary of the Thames, from Its Source to the Nore. … An Unconventional Handbook, London: Macmillan & Co., […], 1883, →OCLC, page 164, column 2:
glosses: Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
examples: text: She sprang into the air and jack-knifed into a clumsy pike before following her hands into the water.
ref: 2000, J[ames] G[raham] Ballard, Super-Cannes, London: Flamingo, →ISBN; republished London: Fourth Estate, 2011, →ISBN, page 167:
text: Guo and Wu took a big lead after the second dive, a back dive in pike position, which the judges awarded three perfect tens for synchronization.
ref: 2008 August 10, “China Wins First Diving Medal at Beijing Olympics”, in The Sports Network, archived from the original on 28 Jul 2013:
topics: diving
gymnastics
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A position with the knees straight and a tight bend at the hips with the torso folded over the legs, usually part of a jack-knife.
examples: text: Thus the ſtatute of king Edward IV, which forbad the fine gentlemen of thoſe times (under the degree of a lord) to wear pikes upon their ſhoes or boots of more than two inches in length, was a law that ſavoured of oppreſſion; becauſe, however ridiculous the faſhion then in uſe might appear, the reſtraining of it by pecuniary penalties could ſerve no purpoſe of common utility.
ref: 1765, William Blackstone, “Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 122:
text: During the earlier part of this period, the long pike disappeared from the shoe, but in the later part it returned in greater longitude than ever. So highly valued indeed was this singular piece of extravagance […] that by a sumptuary statute of 1463, none but lords were allowed to wear shoes or boots having pikes more than two inches long.
ref: 1861, Charles Macfarlane, Thomas Thomson, “History of Society. From the Accession of Henry IV. (A.D. 1399) to the Death of Richard III. (A.D. 1485).”, in Thomas Thomson, editor, The Comprehensive History of England; Civil and Military, Religious, Intellectual, and Social, from the Earliest Period to the Suppression of the Sepoy Revolt, rev. edition, volume I, London; Glasgow; Edinburgh: Blackie and Son, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 686, column 1:
topics: fashion
lifestyle
glosses: A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
topics: fashion
lifestyle
glosses: A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
A style of shoes with pikes, popular in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
examples: text: Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England.
text: I will thrust my ſelfe into the ſtocks, vpon the pikes of the Land.
ref: 1614 November 10 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Bartholomew Fayre: A Comedie, […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640–1641, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, page 49:
text: The pike of Teneriffe how high it is? 70 miles or 52, as Patritius holds: […]
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Ayre Rectified. With a Digression of the Ayre.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 3, page 209:
glosses: Especially in place names: a hill or mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak or summit.
examples: text: The pike axe, a single blade axe with a point on the back side of the head, was designed for forcible entry.
ref: 2015, Joseph Klinoff, “Public Fire Protection”, in Introduction to Fire Protection and Emergency Services, 5th edition, Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning, →ISBN, page 65:
glosses: A pick, a pickaxe.
examples: text: Short rakes for to gather vp barlie to binde, / and greater to rake vp such leauings behinde: / A rake for to hale vp the fitchis that lie, / A pike for to pike them vp handsom to drie.
ref: 1878, Thomas Tusser, “A Digression to Husbandlie Furniture”, in Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC; republished as W[illiam] Payne, Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, →OCLC, stanza 15, page 37:
glosses: A hayfork.
examples: text: [F]or to ſerue brauely, is to come halting off, you know to come off the breach, with his pike bent brauely, and to ſurgerie brauely, to venture vpon the chargde chambers brauely.
ref: William Shakespeare (2016), James C. Bulman, editor, King Henry IV Part 2 (The Arden Shakespeare Third Series), London; New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare, Bloomsbury Publishing, published 2017, →ISBN, footnote 51, page 254
english: Falstaff asserts that he is potent using military imagery, by suggesting that after a man has engaged in sexual intercourse and ejaculated ("served bravely"), his penis ("pike") will become flaccid ("come halting off", "bent bravely").
translation: Falstaff asserts that he is potent using military imagery, by suggesting that after a man has engaged in sexual intercourse and ejaculated ("served bravely"), his penis ("pike") will become flaccid ("come halting off", "bent bravely").
text: [D]o I not ſtand, / Ready with my Pike to make my entry, / And are you come to man her?
ref: 1607–1608, Lo[rding] Barry, Ram-Alley: Or Merrie-Trickes. A Comedy Diuers Times here-to-fore Acted by the Children of the Kings Reuels, London: Printed by G[eorge] Eld, for Robert Wilson, […], published 1611, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: This is the true Monsieur [Gaston, Duke of Orléans], who ever stands stradling, and when he converses even with the civillest Ladies, faces them in the same posture, ordering and tossing his Pike, with his hands in his Cod-piece.
ref: 1650 June 13–20, Marchamont Nedham, editor, Mercurius Politicus. […], number 2, London: Printed for Robert White, →OCLC, page 30:
glosses: A penis.
Synonyms: sense: the fish
word: ged
sense: the fish species Esox lucius
word: northern pike
Derived terms: Amur pike
blackspotted pike
boarding pike
come down the pike
daggertooth pike conger
fire pike
garpike
halfpike
half-pike
hornpike
mackerel pike
morris-pike
northern pike
pickerel
pike and shot
pike characin
pike-devant
pikehead
pikelike
pikeman
pikeminnow
pike-perch
pikeperch
pike pole
pikestaff
pikey
pikie
puck
push of pike
Scafell Pike
sea pike
walleyed pike