pike
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /paɪk/
rhymes: -aɪk
Forms: form: pikes
form: piking
form: piked
form: piked
Etymology: Clipping of turnpike (“a toll road, especially a toll expressway; a spiked barrier across a road, originally used to block access to the road until toll had been paid”)
Noun sense 2 (“gypsy, itinerant tramp, or traveller”) and verb sense 2 (“to depart, travel, especially to flee, run away”) may refer to someone frequently using turnpikes, or may be derived from Middle English pī̆ken (“to go, remove oneself”).
Senses: examples: text: Now suppose we commence and pike one mile of road in every township in this county each year,[…]. The saving on what was piked the years before would be such that you would be able to pay into the treasury only the amount that you did the first year.
ref: 1889, “To What Extent is Macadamizing Practicable. (A Discussion at the Washington Institute.)”, in Agriculture of Pennsylvania, […], Harrisburg, Pa.: Edwin K. Meyers, state printer, →OCLC, page 381:
text: On motion Duke street from King street to Princess street was ordered to be piked.
ref: 1917 February 19, Charles W. Kaeppel; Calvin E. Arner, reporters, “City of York v. Holtzapple. No. 2.”, in The Lehigh County Law Journal […], volume VII, Allentown, Pa.: Call Publishing Co., published 1918, →OCLC, page 198:
glosses: To equip with a turnpike.
examples: text: Joe sold his sand, and cly'd his cole, sir [marginal note: pocketed his money] / While Bess got a basket of rags, / Then up to St. Giles's they roll'd, sir, / To every bunter Bess brags: / Into a booze-ken they pike it, [marginal note: go] / Where Bess was admitted we hear; / For none of the coves dare but like it, / As Joey, here kiddy, was there.
ref: a. 1789, G[eorge] Parker (?), collected and annotated by John S[tephen] Farmer, “The Sandman’s Wedding”, in Musa Pedestris. Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536–1896], [s.l.]: Privately published for subscribers only, published 1896, →OCLC, page 65:
text: Crash the cull—down with him—down with him before he dubs the jigger. Tip him the degan, Fib, fake him through and through; if he pikes we shall all be scragged. [footnote: Kill the fellow, down with him before he opens the door. Stab him, through and through; if he gets off we shall all be hanged.]
ref: 1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter LXXXIII, in Pelham or Adventures of a Gentleman, New York, N.Y.: The Cassell Publishing Co. […], →OCLC, page 402:
text: Two hoodlums were "piking" up Woodward Avenue yesterday, when they encountered a boy acquaintance who asked where they were going.
ref: 1875 May, “Facts and Fancies”, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume XLI, number 5 (number 245 overall), Boston, Mass.: Thomes & Talbot, publishers […], →OCLC, page 496, column 2:
text: "Here, hold Bismarck!" says Aunty, jammin' the brass cage into Mr. Mallory's arm, and with that she pikes straight over to us.
ref: 1912, Sewell Ford, “A Long Shot on DeLancey”, in Odd Numbers: Being Further Chronicles of Shorty McCabe, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, publishers, →OCLC, page 77:
qualifier: thieves' cant
glosses: To depart or travel (as if by a turnpike), especially to flee, to run away.