Pike (?), n. [F. pique; perhaps of Celtic origin; cf. W. pig a prick, a point, beak, Arm. pik pick. But cf. also L. picus woodpecker (see Pie magpie), and E. spike. Cf. Pick, n. & v., Peak, Pique.]
1. Mil.
A foot soldier's weapon, consisting of a long wooden shaft or staff, with a pointed steel head. It is now superseded by the bayonet.
2.
A pointed head or spike; esp., one in the center of a shield or target.
Beau. & Fl.
3.
A hayfork.
[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]
Tusser.
4.
A pick.
[Prov. Eng.]
Wright. Raymond.
5.
A pointed or peaked hill.
[R.]
6.
A large haycock.
[Prov. Eng.]
Halliwell.
7.
A turnpike; a toll bar.
Dickens.
8. Zool. sing. & pl.
A large fresh-water fish (Esox lucius), found in Europe and America, highly valued as a food fish; -- called also pickerel, gedd, luce, and jack.
⇒ Blue pike, grass pike, green pike, wall-eyed pike, and yellow pike, are names, not of true pike, but of the wall-eye. See Wall-eye.
Gar pike. See under Gar. -- Pike perch Zool., any fresh-water fish of the genus Stizostedion (formerly Lucioperca). See Wall-eye, and Sauger. -- Pike pole, a long pole with a pike in one end, used in directing floating logs. -- Pike whale Zool., a finback whale of the North Atlantic (Balaenoptera rostrata), having an elongated snout; -- called also piked whale. -- Sand pike Zool., the lizard fish. -- Sea pike Zool., the garfish (a).
© Webster 1913.