Spike vs Erratic - What's the difference?

spike | erratic |

As a proper noun spike

is .

As an adjective erratic is

unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent.

As a noun erratic is

(geology) a rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.

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

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

erratic

English

Alternative forms

* erratick, erraticke, erratique (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)

unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes; not consistent

Henry has been getting erratic scores on his tests: 40% last week, but 98% this week.

Deviating from the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; odd.

erratic conduct

Derived terms

* erratically

Antonyms

* consistent

Noun

(en noun)

(geology) A rock moved from one location to another, usually by a glacier.

* 2003 , (Bill Bryson), A Short History of Nearly Everything , BCA 2003, p. 372:

The term for a displaced boulder is an erratic , but in the nineteenth century the expression seemed to apply more often to the theories than to the rocks.

Anything that has erratic characteristics.