pike

Etymology 1

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, 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”).

noun

1. (military, historical) 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.
   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. 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
2. A sharp, pointed staff or implement.
   Each had a ſmall ax in the ſurcingle of his ſaddle, and a pike about fourteen feet long, the weapon with which he charged; […] 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
   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. 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
3. A large haycock (“conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before adding to a haystack”).
   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?" 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
4. Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the northern pike, Esox lucius.
   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. 10 March 1711, 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
   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. 2 November 1839, “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
   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. 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
5. (diving, gymnastics) 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.
   She sprang into the air and jack-knifed into a clumsy pike before following her hands into the water. 2000, J[ames] G[raham] Ballard, Super-Cannes, London: Flamingo; republished London: Fourth Estate, 2011, page 167
   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. 10 August 2008, “China Wins First Diving Medal at Beijing Olympics”, in The Sports Network, archived from the original on 2013-07-28
6. (fashion, dated) A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
   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. 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
   1. (historical) A style of shoes with pikes, popular in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
7. (chiefly Northern England) Especially in place names: a hill or mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak or summit.
   Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England.
8. (obsolete) A pick, a pickaxe.
   The pike axe, a single blade axe with a point on the back side of the head, was designed for forcible entry. 2015, Joseph Klinoff, “Public Fire Protection”, in Introduction to Fire Protection and Emergency Services, 5th edition, Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning, page 65
9. (obsolete, Britain, dialectal) A hayfork.
10. (obsolete, often euphemistic) A penis.
    [D]o I not ſtand, / Ready with my Pike to make my entry, / And are you come to man her? 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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=UV0Ok5t5RF0C&pg=PP41 [Act III, scene i]]
    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. 13 June 1650 – 20 June 1650, Marchamont Nedham, editor, Mercurius Politicus.[…], number 2, London: Printed for Robert White, →OCLC, page 30

verb

1. (transitive) To prod, attack, or injure someone with a pike.
   Soon after the general marched from Kilcullen, the rebels plundered all the houſes of the proteſtants in it and its vicinity, and murdered ſuch of the inhabitants as could not make their eſcape. […] They piked out one eye of a Mrs. Burchell, aged ninety; they alſo aſſaſſinated ſome wounded ſoldiers who had been left in the town, and Mr. John Cheney at Donard. 1801, Richard Musgrave, “The Breaking-out of the Rebellion”, in Memoirs of the Different Rebellions in Ireland,[…], Dublin: Printed by Robert Marchbank, for John Milliken, […] and John Stockdale,[…], →OCLC, pages 260–261
   They were armed with pikes, which were red with the blood of those they had just murdered. As Mr. Gurley was led toward them, they set up a shout: "O boys, here comes Gurley, the heretic. Pike him! pike him! pike the heretic dog!" 1854, L[eonard] B. Gurley, chapter XV, in Memoir of Rev. William Gurley, Late of Milan, Ohio,[…], Cincinnati, Oh.: Printed for the author, at the Methodist Book Concern[…], →OCLC, page 178
2. (transitive, intransitive, diving, gymnastics) To assume a pike position.
   In the early stages he can do this by bending at the elbows (no more than 90) as he pikes the legs and straightens the arms in co-ordination with the upward swing of the cast, so that the whole body is extended as he reaches handstand. 1979, Peter Tatlow, editor, Gymnastics: All the Beauty and Skills of This Thrilling Sport, Auckland: McGraw-Hill
   At the front of her swing she pikes to wrap her legs under the low bar. 1980, Karen Folger Jacobs, The Story of a Young Gymnast: Tracee Talavera, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, page 98
   She stood on the block bending slowly; her hands now on the front of the blocks, she dove straight out. Piking, she came up doing the stroke she was famous for—the butterfly. 2012, Charles Fierro, “Tom”, in Dinkletown Road, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, page 50
   A diver jumps off the 3 m platform. She is in a stretched-out position (a layout) and barely rotating at first. Then she flexes at the hips and folds herself in half (she pikes), and her rotation speeds up as if by magic. 2013, Peter M[erton] McGinnis, Biomechanics of Sport and Exercise, 3rd edition, Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, page 196
3. (intransitive, gambling) To bet or gamble with only small amounts of money.
   I put the temporary squinch on the rum bug when I got there and piked along at a ten-cent table with the last two dollars I had. 1900, Clarence Louis Cullen, Tales of the Ex-tanks: A Book of Hard-luck Stories, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap[…], →OCLC, page 339
   Not that my wife is an inveterate gambler; as a matter of fact the poor kid hasn't any card sense at all and doesn't even care for it. She only piked along because I—I compelled her to. 1920, Isabel Ostrander, “The Lure of Chance”, in How Many Cards?, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company,[…], →OCLC, page 188
   I found no difficulty in obtaining admission to the Navarre's long gambling room, where I "piked" by placing two-bit bets on the numbered roulette board. 1964, Gilbert Patten (“Burt L. Standish”), edited by Harriet Hinsdale, assisted by Tony London, Frank Merriwell’'s “Father”: An Autobiography, Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, →OCLC, page 208
4. (intransitive, Australia, New Zealand, slang) Often followed by on or out: to quit or back out of a promise.
   Don’t pike on me like you did last time!
   —But [Albert] Camus piked out, said Carole. [Jean-Paul] Sartre and that lot got pissed off with him, he stood off from the war, he wouldn't oppose it. 2002, Sylvia Lawson, How Simone de Beauvoir Died in Australia: Stories and Essays, Sydney, N.S.W.: UNSW Press, page 151
   [William] Holman accepted the challenge while [John] Norton ‘piked out’; nevertheless Holman won Cootamundra against a strong candidate. 2006, Pip Wilson, “Biographies”, in Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push, Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.: Pip Wilson; 3rd edition, Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.: Pip Wilson, January 2007, page 543
   If they didn't go ahead, it would look like they had piked, backed down. 2008, Chris Pash, The Last Whale, ReadHowYouWant edition, Fremantle, W.A.: Fremantle Press, page 36

Etymology 2

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”).

noun

1. (chiefly US) Clipping of turnpike.
   They tried out every idea that came down the pike.
   There is heavy traffic on the Mass Pike.
   Under cover of the woods, they moved still further south, in a direction parallel with the Baltimore pike; but Gregg was moving too, and when they started out toward the pike, they were again confronted. 29 June 1863, Whitelaw Reid, “Doc. 20. The Battles of Gettysburgh. Cincinnati ‘Gazette’ Account.”, in Frank Moore, editor, The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, etc., volume VII, New York, N.Y.: D[avid] Van Nostrand,[…], published 1864, →OCLC, section III (Thursday’s Doubtful Issue—Friday’s Victory), page 98, column 2
2. (derogatory, ethnic slur, slang) A gypsy, itinerant tramp, or traveller from any ethnic background; a pikey.
   The true "Pike," however, in the Californian sense of the word, is the wandering gypsy-like Southern poor white. […] "I found a Pike the other day killing and salting hogs, and actually hauling the salt pork off to sell it," said a gentleman in whose company we were discussing these people. / "Certainly that was an industrious Pike," said I. / "Yes, but confound it, they were my hogs," he replied, with natural wrath. 1873, Charles Nordhoff, “A January Day in Los Angeles”, in California: For Health, Pleasure, and Residence. A Book for Travellers and Residents, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers,[…], →OCLC, page 138

verb

1. (intransitive) To equip with a turnpike.
   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. 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
   On motion Duke street from King street to Princess street was ordered to be piked. 19 February 1917, 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
2. (intransitive, obsolete, Britain, thieves' cant) To depart or travel (as if by a turnpike), especially to flee, to run away.
   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. 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
   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.] 1828, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, chapter LXXXIII, in Pelham or Adventures of a Gentleman, New York, N.Y.: The Cassell Publishing Co.[…], →OCLC, page 402
   Two hoodlums were "piking" up Woodward Avenue yesterday, when they encountered a boy acquaintance who asked where they were going. 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
   "Here, hold Bismarck!" says Aunty, jammin' the brass cage into Mr. Mallory's arm, and with that she pikes straight over to us. 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