Needle vs Spike - What's the difference?
needle | spike |
A long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing such as sewing, or knitting, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections etc.
Any slender, pointed object resembling a needle, such as a pointed crystal, a sharp pinnacle of rock, an obelisk, etc.
A long, thin device for indicating measurements on a dial or graph, e.g. a compass needle .
A sensor for playing phonograph records, a phonograph stylus.
A long, pointed leaf found on some conifers.
* 1994 , , ch. 2:
(informal, usually preceded by the) The death penalty carried out by lethal injection.
To pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.
* 1892 , H. Lindo Ferguson, "Operation on Microphthamlmic Eyes", Ophthalmic Review? , volume 11, page 48
* 2000 , Felix Mann, Reinventing Acupuncture , page 109
To tease in order to provoke; to poke fun at.
* 1984 , Leopold Caligor, Philip M. Bromberg, & James D. Meltzer, Clinical Perspectives on the Supervision of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy? , page 14
To form in the shape of a needle.
An ear of corn or grain.
# (botany) A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
#
Something pointed or sharp.
# A sort of very large nail; anything resembling such a nail in shape.
#* Addison
# The long, narrow part of a woman's high-heeled shoe that elevates the heel.
# A sharp peak in a graph.
# a surge in power.
# (informal) In spikes : running shoes with spikes in the soles.
# (volleyball) An attack from, usually, above the height of the net performed with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.
(zoology) An adolescent male deer.
(slang) The casual ward of a workhouse.
* 1933 : , p. 139.
To fix on a spike; to pierce or run through with a spike.
# To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails.
# To set or furnish with spikes.
# (military) To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole.
#* 1834 , (Frederick Marryat), Peter Simple :
#* 1990 , (Peter Hopkirk), The Great Game , Folio Society 2010, p. 235-6:
# (journalism) To decide not to publish or make public. (From the former practice of newspaper editors impaling sheets of typewritten articles not selected for publication on a metal spike or spindle placed on their desks: see 2010 quotation.)
#*
#* '>citation
# (American football) To slam a football to the ground, usually in celebration of scoring a touchdown, or to stop expiring time on the game clock after snapping the ball as to save time for the losing team to attempt to score the tying or winning points.
# (volleyball) To attack from, usually, above the height of the net with the intent to send the ball straight to the floor of the opponent or off the hands of the opposing block.
To increase sharply.
To add a small amount of one substance to another.
* '>citation
# (specifically) To covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance into food or drink.
As a noun needle
is a long, thin, sharp implement usually for piercing such as sewing, or knitting, acupuncture, tattooing, body piercing, medical injections etc.As a verb needle
is to pierce with a needle, especially for sewing or acupuncture.As a proper noun spike is
.needle
English
(wikipedia needle)Noun
(en noun)- The seamstress threaded the needle to sew on a button.
- The needle on the fuel gauge pointed to empty.
- Ziggy bought some diamond needles for his hi-fi phonograph.
- At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. Disgusted with himself at such cowardice, he spat a needle from his mouth.
Derived terms
* compass needle * knitting needle * needlenose * needlenose pliers * on pins and needles * move the needle * packing needle * pine needle * pins and needles * needle in a haystack * needlepunch * needle-sharp * needlewiseSee also
* acerate * eye * pinVerb
(needl)- the eyes were once more beginning to show the old nystagmus; so I decided to needle' the cataracts, and on Jan. 31 I ' needled the right eye.
- Possibly the greatest effect is achieved in the hand by needling the thumb, the index finger and the region of the 1st and 2nd metacarpal.
- Billy needled his sister incessantly about her pimples.
- FRED: Well, I teased her to some extent, or I needled' her, not teased her. I ' needled her about—first I said that she didn't want to work, and then I think that there were a couple of comments.
- to needle crystals
Synonyms
* (to tease) goad, teaseAnagrams
* 1000 English basic wordsspike
English
Noun
(en noun)- oil of spike
- He wears on his head the corona radiata ; the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun.
- "Dere's tay spikes', and cocoa '''spikes''', and skilly ' spikes ."
Synonyms
* catkin, raceme, cluster, corymb, umbelDerived terms
{{der3, marlinspike , spike addition}}Verb
(spik)- to spike down planks
- (Young)
- He jumped down, wrenched the hammer from the armourer’s hand, and seizing a nail from the bag, in a few moments he had spiked the gun.
- Small skirmishes also took place, and the Afghans managed to seize a pair of mule-guns and force the British to spike and abandon two other precious guns.
- Traffic accidents spiked in December when there was ice on the roads.
- The water sample to be tested has been spiked with arsenic, antimony, mercury, and lead in quantities commonly found in industrial effluents.
- She spiked my lemonade with vodka!
