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Halberd vs Pike - What's the difference?

halberd | pike |

As nouns the difference between halberd and pike

is that halberd is a hand weapon consisting of a long pole fitted with a metal head; the head consists of a blade similar to an axe and usually a spike or hook.pike is a very long thrusting spear used two-handed by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. The pike is not intended to be thrown.

As a verb pike is

to attack, prod, or injure someone with a pike.

As a proper noun Pike is

{{surname|from=Middle English}} of multiple origins, including Middle English {{term|pike|lang=enm}}.

halberd

Alternative forms

* halbert

Noun

(en noun)
  • A hand weapon consisting of a long pole fitted with a metal head; the head consists of a blade similar to an axe and usually a spike or hook.
  • Synonyms

    * pole-axe

    Derived terms

    * halberdier

    See also

    * twibill

    pike

    English

    (wikipedia pike)

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) ultimately a variant form of pick, with meaning narrowed. Cognate with Dutch piek, dialectal German Peik, Norwegian pik. pique.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A very long thrusting spear used two-handed by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. The pike is not intended to be thrown.
  • * 1790 , , Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile
  • Each had a small ax in the foreangle of his saddle, and a pike about fourteen feet long, the weapon with which he charged;
  • A sharp point, such as that of the weapon.
  • (Beaumont and Fletcher)
  • Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox'', especially the northern pike, ''Esox lucius .
  • A turnpike.
  • (Charles Dickens)
  • A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe, found in old-fashioned footwear.
  • * 1861 , The comprehensive history of England Vol. 1
  • 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.
  • * 1904 , George Nicholls, A History of the English Poor Law in Connection with the State of the Country and the Condition of the People
  • Thus the statute of , which forbade the fine gentlemen of those times, under the degree of a lord, to wear pikes upon their shoes or boots of more than two inches in length, was a law that savoured of oppression, because, however ridiculous the fashion might appear, the restraining of it by pecuniary penalties would serve no purpose of common utility.
  • (diving) A dive position with knees straight and a tight bend at the hips.
  • * 2000 , (JG Ballard), Super-Cannes , Fourth Estate 2011, p. 167:
  • She sprang into the air and jack-knifed into a clumsy pike before following her hands into the water.
  • * 2008 , , China wins first diving medal at Beijing Olympics Aug 10 2008 [http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/story/?id=245859&lid=sublink05&lpos=headlines_olympics]
  • 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.
  • (obsolete, UK, dialect) A hayfork.
  • (Tusser)
  • (obsolete) A pick.
  • (Raymond)
    (Wright)
  • A large haycock.
  • (Halliwell)
    Synonyms
    * ''see: northern pike
    Derived terms
    * come down the pike * garpike * pikehead * pikestaff * pikeman

    Verb

    (pik)
  • To attack, prod, or injure someone with a pike.
  • To quit or back out of a promise.
  • Don't pike on me like you did last time!
  • * 2002 , Sylvia Lawson, How Simone De Beauvoir Died in Australia , page 151,
  • —But Camus piked out, said Carole. Sartre and that lot got pissed off with him, he stood off from the war, he wouldn?t oppose it.
  • * 2006 , Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push , page 543,
  • Holman accepted the challenge while Norton ‘piked out’; nevertheless Holman won Cootamundra against a strong candidate.
  • * 2008 , Chris Pash, The Last Whale , Fremantle Press, Australia, page 36,
  • If they didn?t go ahead, it would look like they had piked , backed down.

    Derived terms

    * piker

    Etymology 2

    Perhaps a special use of Etymology 1, above; or from an early Scandinavian language, compare Norwegian .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A mountain peak or summit.
  • *, II.ii.3:
  • *:The pike of Teneriffe how high it is? 70 miles? or 50, as Patricius holds? or 9, as Snellius demonstrates in his Eratosthenes ?
  • References

    Anagrams

    * ---- ==Norwegian Bokmål==

    Noun

    (nb-noun-c)
  • girl
  • Usage notes

    Jente'' is the standard appellation for girl in Norwegian, however, ''pike may also be used observing its somewhat conservative tint.

    Synonyms

    * (l)

    Derived terms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)

    References

    *