spike – English noun declension

English noun forms of spike

Noun: spike
Singularspike
Pluralspikes

Sample Sentences

  • The trap was lined with spikes.
  • 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. [a. 1720 (date written), [Joseph Addison], “Dialogue II”, in Dialogues upon the Usefulness of Ancient Medals. […], [London]: [s.n.], published 1726, →OCLC, page 111:]
  • 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. [2019 April 1, Ana Swanson, “Avocado shortages and price spikes: How Trump’s border closing would hit U.S.”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:]
  • As well as the boom in off-peak leisure numbers, "there has been a big spike in passenger assistance - that's really taken off as well", he continues. "We're probably victims of our own success because we promote this more than we ever used to. We promote how accessible the railways are. I think that this area has more than doubled from pre-COVID levels. [2023 November 1, Nick Brodrick talks to Jason Cocker, “A Station that ‘Oozes’ Customer Service …”, in RAIL, number 995, pages 52-53:]
  • It was all true, it appeared. He sat down and wrote it, the editor read it and said: ' We don't use stories like this in this newspaper.' So the story ended up on the spike, reinforcing the principle that wife-swapping, unlike justice, must not be seen to be done. [1974, Books and Bookmen:]
  • Later I was entrusted with writing the letters to the editor, because nobody else ever wrote to our paper. The editor, Eric Lewis, had a slash and burn style of editing that left its mark on me forever. Most of my stories ended up on the spike. [2005, David Bouchier, Writer at Work: Reflections on the Art and Business of Writing, iUniverse, →ISBN:]
  • 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. [2013, Margalit Fox, Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code and the Uncovering of a Lost Civilisation, Profile Books, →ISBN:]
  • Dere's tay spikes, and cocoa spikes, and skilly spikes. [1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, page 189:]
  • oil of spike
  • Sometimes actors set props on the spikes, or sometimes a deckhand will do it, depending on the action of the play. [2020, John Ramsey Holloway, Zachary Stribling, Illustrated Theatre Production Guide, page 15:]
  • An architectural spike is used to prove that a specific technical approach works. Teams will often do an architectural spike when they have a few different options for designing a specific technical solution, or if they don't know if a certain approach will work. [2017, Andrew Stellman, Jennifer Greene, Head First Agile […] , O'Reilly Media, →ISBN:]
  • Here we see an Anglo-Catholic spike cocking a snook at authority, getting away with it, and probably exercising an important liturgical and sacramental ministry – at least by his own lights – to some of the troops on the Western Front. [2016 November 26, Robert Beaken, “Onward, Christian Soldiers”, in New Directions:]

Etymology

From Middle English spike, spyke, spik, from Old Norse spík (“spike, sprig”), from Proto-Germanic *spīkō (“stick, splinter, point”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“to be pointed; sharp point, stick”). Cognate with Icelandic spík (“spike”), Swedish spik (“spike, nail”), Dutch spijker (“nail”), Old English spīcing (“spike”), and Latin spīca (“ear of corn”), which may have influenced some senses. See: Middle English Nouns 'spike', Swedish Nouns 'spik', Dutch Nouns 'spijker', Latin Nouns 'spīca'.

Verbs referencing "spike"

German Nouns Spike, Galician Nouns espigo.