Spike

Also, Fonzie's younger cousin on Happy Days.

To add alcohol or drugs to a beverage such as punch.

Also, a cat who lives with Mallet, Dashigara, Jon, and protozoa. Discovered at a mere six weeks of age during the Summer of 1998, he is striped and very puffy. We think he has some Maine Coon in him, but we can't tell for certain.

Spike is crazy. He runs around the house, destroying anything in his path. He will attack Mallet and Dashigara without provocation.

He's not big yet, but he's getting there.

The character Spike (also known as William the Bloody, from his fondness for railway-spike based torture), from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, also referred to as 'Hostile 17', is based on Sid Vicious, ex-bassist of The Sex Pistols.

The whole appearance, the unnecessary Britishness, and the fact that he sings the version of My Way from the film Sid and Nancy when he first arrives in Sunnydale all point to this.

He was formerly romantically involved with Drusilla, his sire, and since she has left him for a chaos demon, he has not had any other involvements (apart from a one night stand with the ex-vengeance demon Anya).

Having been captured by the Initiative, he was cajoled by Adam to join him in his quest to rid the world of humanity. However, he refused, and has cemented his place in the Scooby Gang.

Spike is played by James Marsters, and is 127 years old. James Marsters, of course, is not.

spike v.

1. To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a (sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result. The word is used in several industries; telephone engineers refer to spiking a relay by inserting a pin to hold the relay in either the closed or open state, and railroaders refer to spiking a track switch so that it cannot be moved. In programming environments it normally refers to a temporary change, usually for testing purposes (as opposed to a permanent change, which would be called hardwired). 2. [borderline techspeak] A visible peak in an otherwise rather constant graph (e.g. a sudden surge in line voltage, an unexpected short "high" on a logical line in a circuit). Hackers frequently use this for a sudden short increase in some quantity such as system load or network traffic.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

see also: Taper, Claw

Sometimes an item is spiked because there isn't enough space in the publication to run all of the material prepared. This happens when there isn't as much advertising to support the pages planned as forcasted. In that instance, the material spiked is usually used in a following issue. A great deal of spiked material does get dumped eventually.

Sometimes the material is spiked because the editor is waiting for additional information. If the info arrives, the material is used. If it doesn't, the press agent or source of the initial information goes on the editor's shit list and the material is discarded.

Spiking is also the act of throwing a football to the ground in a grandiose gesture in the end zone after making a touchdown.

Spike (?), n. [Akin to LG. spiker, spieker, a large nail, D. spijker, Sw. spik, Dan. spiger, Icel. spik; all perhaps from L. spica a point, an ear of grain; but in the sense of nail more likely akin to E. spoke of a wheel. Cf. Spine.]

1.

A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward.

2.

Anything resembling such a nail in shape.

He wears on his head the corona radiata . . . ; the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun. Addison.

3.

An ear of corn or grain.

4. Bot.

A kind of flower cluster in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.

Spike grass Bot., either of two tall perennial American grasses (Uniola paniculata, and U. latifolia) having broad leaves and large flattened spikelets. -- Spike rush. Bot. See under Rush. -- Spike shell Zool., any pteropod of the genus Styliola having a slender conical shell. -- Spike team, three horses, or a horse and a yoke of oxen, harnessed together, a horse leading the oxen or the span. [U.S.]

© Webster 1913.

Spike, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spiked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Spiking.]

1.

To fasten with spikes, or long, large nails; as, to spike down planks.

2.

To set or furnish with spikes.

3.

To fix on a spike.

Young.

4.

To stop the vent of (a gun or cannon) by driving a spike nail, or the like into it.

© Webster 1913.

Spike, n. [Cf. G. spieke, L. spica an ear of grain. See Spikenard.] Bot.

Spike lavender. See Lavender.

Oil of spike Chem., a colorless or yellowish aromatic oil extracted from the European broad-leaved lavender, or aspic (Lavendula Spica), used in artist's varnish and in veterinary medicine. It is often adulterated with oil of turpentine, which it much resembles.

© Webster 1913.