pike

Signification (English)

Noun

1. 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.
2. A sharp, pointed staff or implement.
3. A large haycock (“conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack”).
4. Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
5. 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.
6. A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
7. A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
8. Especially in place names: a hill or mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak or summit.
9. (obsolete) A pick, a pickaxe.
10. (obsolete) A hayfork.
11. (obsolete) A penis.

Verb

1. To prod, attack, or injure someone with a pike.
2. To assume a pike position.
3. To bet or gamble with only small amounts of money.
4. (slang) Often followed by on or out: to quit or back out of a promise.

Verb

1. To equip with a turnpike.
2. (obsolete) To depart or travel (as if by a turnpike), especially to flee, to run away.

Concepts

brochet

autoroute

pique

voie rapide

épieu

lance

javelot

brochet du Nord

route

🛣️

dard

grand-route

route à quatre voies

voie express

piste de vitesse

chaussée

carpé

grande route

hallebarde

Synonyms

spear

lance

pickerel

state highway

turnpike

expressway

thruway

javelin

freeway

superhighway

throughway

motorway

🛣️

highway

road

🛣️

peak

dart

🎯

northern pike

prong

tip

spike

roadway

ling

shaft

halberd

point

perch

pickaxe

pikestaff

pinpoint

pitchfork

piton

pointedness

prod

quill

race

roach

route

run

saury

score

sharpness

shot

spicule

spine

stake

sticker

street

tab

thorn

tine

toe

toll

track

trail

travel

vertex

way

werewolf

wolf

🐺

jackfish

super highway

long-handled Chinese spear

long spear

acantha

aculeus

aiglet

common snook

Esox lucius

Maskinonge

Muskellunge

Pickerel chain

Pickerel grass

guayana pike-conger

northern icefish

pike-headed eel

robalo snook

motorway

🛣️

expressway

turnpike

thruway

state highway

throughway

superhighway

acme

freeway

aglet

apex

assagai

barb

barracuda

conger

course

cusp

end

🔚

fix

glaive

gore

harpoon

hayfork

head

heat

jack

lead

muskellunge

nib

nose

👃

ogive

path

🛣️

pathway

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/paɪk/

Étymologie (English)

Inherited from moyen anglais: pyke

Inherited from ancien anglais: pīc

Cognate with moyen néerlandais: pecke

Cognate with néerlandais: piek

Cognate with allemand: Pike

Cognate with norvégien: pik

Cognate with danois: pig

Cognate with ancien irlandais: pīk

Cognate with moyen anglais: piken

Inherited from moyen anglais: piken

In summary

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”).