▪ I. spiky, a.1
(ˈspaɪkɪ)
Also 6 spikie, spykie.
[f. spike n.1]
Having the form of a flower-spike; characterized by the production of spikes or ears.
In some contexts not clearly distinct from spiky a.2
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 105 The floures grow..upon long purple, spykie, knoppes like to the eares or spikes of Bistorte. 1656 Culpepper Eng. Physic. Enl. 162 The stalk riseth above this Leaf..like the spiky head of the Adders-Tongue. 1778 J. Scott Mor. Eclogues iii. 9 Spiky mint rich fragrance breathing round. 1828 Blackw. Mag. Dec. 711/2 The tall harvest of spiky wheat. 1883 Knowledge 8 June 336/2 Rye-grass,..a common roadside weed..with..a number of spiky flower-heads. 1884 Pall Mall G. 10 June 4/1 Sweet-vernal-grass..the peculiar spiky plant to which new⁓mown hay owes with us the whole of its delicious fragrance. |
▪ II. spiky, a.2
(ˈspaɪkɪ)
Also 8– spikey.
[f. spike n.2]
1. Fitted with a spike or spikes; having sharp projecting points.
| 1720 Pope Iliad xx. 585 The spiky Wheels thro' Heaps of Carnage tore; And thick the groaning Axles dropp'd with Gore. 1764 Randall Semi-Virgilian Husb. App. 1 Mr. Ellis, in one of his eight volumes on Husbandry, made mention of a spiky roller. 1767 R. Jago Edge-hill iii. 120 By gainful Commerce of her woolly Vests, Wrought by the spiky Comb. 1866 Daily Tel. 20 Jan. 3/6 His martial cloak..around him, and the usual spiky helmet on his head. 1893 G. Allen Scallywag I. 97 A couple of large spiky shells. |
| Comb. 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Observ. 18 The latter has scarcely ten vigorous plants in the whole field;— though spikey-rolled, and repeatedly harrowed. |
2. Having the form of a spike or spikes; stiff and sharp-pointed.
| 1742 Blair Grave 191 The tapering Pyramid!.. Whose spiky Top Has wounded the thick Cloud. 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 298 [Calcedony] filiform, tubular, or spiky. 1810 Wordsw. Prose Wks. (1876) II. 282 If ten thousand of this spiky tree, the larch, are stuck in at once upon the side of a hill, they can grow up into nothing but deformity. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. i, With his spiky hair looking as if it must tear the sheet to ribbons. 1894 W. Besant Equal Woman 126 A dozen spiky thorns sticking into him in the most cruel manner. |
| Comb. 1849 Cupples Green Hand xvi. (1856) 158 The high bundles of knotted and jointed bamboo, with their spiky⁓tufted crowns. |
3. fig. Suggestive of spikes; sharp.
| 1881 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton My Love! I. 94 To oppose smoothness to her spiky irritability. 1930 M. Kennedy Fool of Family xv. 147 ‘How spikey you are!’ protested Fenella mildly. ‘Oh, yes. Keep your temper when I'm rude. You would.’ 1955 Times 4 Aug. 10/5 What matter that the melodic line is as seductively curved as that of any of the great operatic romanticists of the near past, instead of being spiky and angular in the contemporary fashion? 1964 Crystal & Quirk Prosodic & Paralinguist. Features in Eng. iv. 47 Pitch variation, with extremes in a ‘spiky’ movement on the one hand..and in a ‘glissando’ movement..on the other. 1981 N. J. Crisp Festival vii. 176 He seemed more relaxed..not as spiky and difficult as he had been. |
4. Of a particularly ritualistic or High-Church Anglican character. slang.
| 1893 W. Bright Let. 20 Oct. (1903) 348 The ultras, as they might be called, on the Catholic side, present Church ideas, too often, in a form altogether too hard to be attractive; I believe I am said to have called it ‘spiky’, in a letter to my friend the Principal of Ely College. 1921 Church Times 12 Aug. 147/3 We wonder what would be thought of some of his sayings if they were uttered by a spiky young curate to-day. 1950 A. Wilson Such Darling Dodos 34 She became a daily communicant and delighted the more ‘spikey’ of her neighbours. 1962 Times Lit. Suppl. 13 July 505/1 Her story is of the American priest, Charles Phillips, whose churchmanship would in England be rated high-to-spiky. 1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn xxiv. 212 He had been a server at the spikiest Anglo-Catholic church. |