Spike
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The word "spike"
The word spike can refer to:
- A sharp object like a nail:
- spiked shoes worn by athletes, which provide more traction.
- large spikes used to secure railroad rails to the wooden ties
- the Golden Spike, driven at Promontory Point in Utah on 1869 May 10, joining the first trans-continental railroad in North America
- An adolescent male deer.
- An upswing in activity, shown by a spike on a graph or chart:
- a spike, a short electrical pulse (See: surge suppressor, transient voltage)
- a spike in the crime rate, birth rate, cancer rate, or other rate
- In neuroscience, the action potential which transmits signals along axons is often called a spike.
- To spike a gun is to render it unusable. The term originally referred to muzzle-loading cannon. Driving an iron hand-spike (part of the gun's equipment) into the touch-hole on the cannon's breech would enlarge the hole and leave the gun unusable until repaired, or bushed, an hour or more work.
- To "spike" a drink is a term meaning to add something to it, usually adding to the effect of an alcoholic drink, and often unknown to the person drinking it. See also date rape drugs.
- An unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence (Botanical) with sessile flowers arranged along the axis. Compare with raceme.
- The Spire of Dublin, a massive needle-like structure erected in Dublin in 2003, is widely known as The Spike
- An Israel-developed guided anti-tank missile spike (missile).
- Spike TV is the new name of The National Network, originally The Nashville Network (TNN).
- In chess the opening move 1.g4 (Grob's Attack) is also called "the Spike".
The name "Spike"
Real people named, or nicknamed, Spike include:
- filmmaker Spike Lee
- filmmaker Spike Jonze
- satirist Spike Jones
- satirist Spike Milligan
- jazz musician Spike Robinson
- punk vocalist and bassist Spike Slawson of the Swinging Utters and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Many fictional characters have been called Spike:
- Spike Spiegel, in a Japanese animation, Cowboy Bebop
- Spike, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Spike, Fonzie's cousin in Happy Days
- Spike Fumo, in Spike of Bensonhurst
- Spike, in Degrassi Junior High
- Spike Thomson, in Press Gang
- Spike, a member of the Screws Gang in Medabots
- Spike, the family pet in Rugrats (voiced by Bruce Willis in the spin-off movie Rugrats Go Wild!)
- Spike, Snoopy's brother in Peanuts
- Spike, Tom's nemesis in the theatrical cartoon series Tom and Jerry
- Spike, Droopy's nemesis in Tex Avery's Droopy theatrical cartoon series.
- Spike the Bulldog, in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons.
- Spike, a main character in the Ape Escape video game series.
The title "Spike"
Spike is the title of:
- Spike, a 1989 album by Elvis Costello
- Spike, a 2001 album by Puffy AmiYumi
- Spike, a 2001 album by P. Diddy
- The Spike, a 1980 novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave, former editor of The Washington Times
- The Spike, a 1997 (revised 2001) book by Damien Broderick
See also: Spike (album)
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