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Spike vs Peak - What's the difference?

spike | peak |

As nouns the difference between spike and peak

is that spike is an ear of corn or grain while peak is a point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as, the peak, or front, of a cap.

As verbs the difference between spike and peak

is that spike is to fix on a spike; to pierce or run through with a spike while peak is to reach a highest degree or maximum.

As a proper noun Spike

is A male nickname.

spike

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • An ear of corn or grain.
  • # (botany) A kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.
  • #
  • oil of spike
  • Something pointed or sharp.
  • # A sort of very large nail; anything resembling such a nail in shape.
  • #* Addison
  • He wears on his head the corona radiata ; the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun.
  • # 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.
    • "Dere's tay spikes', and cocoa '''spikes''', and skilly ' spikes ."

    Synonyms

    * catkin, raceme, cluster, corymb, umbel

    Derived terms

    {{der3, marlinspike , spike addition}}

    Verb

    (spik)
  • To fix on a spike; to pierce or run through with a spike.
  • # To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails.
  • to spike down planks
  • # To set or furnish with spikes.
  • (Young)
  • # (military) To render (a gun) unusable by driving a metal spike into its touch hole.
  • #* 1834 , (Frederick Marryat), Peter Simple :
  • 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.
  • #* 1990 , (Peter Hopkirk), The Great Game , Folio Society 2010, p. 235-6:
  • 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.
  • # (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.
    • Traffic accidents spiked in December when there was ice on the roads.
  • To add a small amount of one substance to another.
    • The water sample to be tested has been spiked with arsenic, antimony, mercury, and lead in quantities commonly found in industrial effluents.
  • * '>citation
  • # (specifically) To covertly put alcohol or another intoxicating substance into food or drink.
  • She spiked my lemonade with vodka!

    • Derived terms

    * spike someone's guns

    Synonyms

    * (volleyball): attack, hit

    Anagrams

    * * * English terms with multiple etymologies

    peak

    English

    (wikipedia peak)

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A point; the sharp end or top of anything that terminates in a point; as, the peak, or front, of a cap.
  • The highest value reached by some quantity in a time period.
    • The stock market reached a peak in September 1929.
  • * 2012 October 23, David Leonhardt, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/us/politics/race-for-president-leaves-income-slump-in-shadows.html?_r=1&hp]," New York Times (retrieved 24 October 2012):
    • By last year, family income was 8 percent lower than it had been 11 years earlier, at its peak in 2000, according to inflation-adjusted numbers from the Census Bureau.
  • (geography) The top, or one of the tops, of a hill, mountain, or range, ending in a point; often, the whole hill or mountain, especially when isolated; as, the Peak of Teneriffe.
  • (nautical) The upper aftermost corner of a fore-and-aft sail; -- used in many combinations; as, peak-halyards, peak-brails, etc.
  • (nautical) The narrow part of a vessel's bow, or the hold within it.
  • (nautical) The extremity of an anchor fluke; the bill.
  • (mathematics) A local maximum of a function, e.g. for sine waves, each point at which the value of y is at its maximum.
    • Synonyms
    * apex, pinnacle, top, summit * See also
    Derived terms
    * peakless * peaklike * peakwise

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To reach a highest degree or maximum.
    • Historians argue about when the Roman Empire began to peak and ultimately decay.
  • To rise or extend into a peak or point; to form, or appear as, a peak.
  • * Holland
    • There peaketh up a mighty high mount.
    Synonyms
    * culminate
    Derived terms
    * off-peak

    Etymology 2

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To become sick or wan.
  • To acquire sharpness of figure or features; hence, to look thin or sickly.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Dwindle, peak , and pine.
  • To pry; to peep slyly.
    • (Shakespeare)

    Etymology 3

    Verb

    (en verb)