spike

A sort of very large nail.

A piece of pointed metal etc. set with points upward or outward.

• The trap was lined with spikes.

Anything resembling such a nail in shape.broadly

• 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.

An ear of corn or grain.

A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.

A running shoe with spikes in the sole to provide grip.in-pluralinformal

A sharp peak in a graph.

A surge in power or in the price of a commodity, etc.; any sudden and brief change that would be represented by a sharp peak on a graph.

• 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.

The rod-like protrusion from a woman's high-heeled shoe that elevates the heel.

A long nail for storing papers by skewering them; (by extension) the metaphorical place where rejected newspaper articles are sent.

• Assuming that word of the death reached the Times's newsroom at all, it would have taken little more than one bleary-eyed night editor who had heard neither of Ventris nor of linear B for the obituary to have been consigned to the spike.

To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails.

• to spike down planks

To set or furnish with spikes.

To embed nails into (a tree) so that any attempt to cut it down will damage equipment or injure people.

To fix on a spike.

• He spiked the story on the “dead” hook and answered his interphone.
• Better known as Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), he spiked his victims on stakes arranged in geometric patterns and accorded each a high or low spear, according to his or her rank.

To discard; to decide not to publish or make public.figuratively

• Nicolaas, or Nick, as the family called him, wanted to turn professional but an ear injury, sustained during the war, spiked his plans.
• Instead, the "Beaver" declared he would spike the story about Wallis Simpson and make sure his fellow media moguls sat on it too.

To increase sharply.

• Traffic accidents spiked in December when there was ice on the roads.

To add alcohol or a drug into a drink, especially if covertly.

• She spiked my lemonade with vodka!

To add a small amount of one substance to another.

• The water sample to be tested has been spiked with arsenic, antimony, mercury, and lead in quantities commonly found in industrial effluents.

To attack from, usually, above the height of the net with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.

To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole.

• He jumped down, wrenched the hammer from the armourer's hand, and seizing a nail from the bag, in a few moments he had spiked the gun.
• Small skirmishes also took place, and the Afghans managed to seize a pair of mule-guns and force the British to spike and abandon two other precious guns.