▪ I. † spiker1 Obs.
Also 6 spyker.
[a. MDu. or MLG. spīker: see spike n.2]
A spike-nail.
| 1574 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 237 Small spykers .j. dozen. 1576 Ibid. 263 Dimid. C of spykers, xvi{supd}. 1658 tr. Porta's Nat. Magic vii. i. 191 They have ships made fast..by great spikers of wood. |
▪ II. spiker2
(ˈspaɪkə(r))
[f. spike v.1]
1. A device for spiking a cannon.
| 1868 Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions War 112 Figures 2 and 3 represent a spiker for guns of large calibre. |
2. One who spikes a gun; one who drives or hammers in a spike.
| 1884 ‘H. Collingwood’ (W. J. C. Lancaster) Under Meteor Flag 290, I immediately withdrew the spikers, and..we silently made the best of our way to the beach. 1887 Sci. Amer. 18 Jan. 389 There are 32 ‘spikers’ to every five miles of track, each man of whom drives 840 spikes a day. |
Add: 3. Volleyball. A player who spikes the ball, esp. one skilled at this. See *spike v.1 7 a.
| 1934 Official Volleyball Rules 31 One of these men is called a ‘set-up’ man and the other the ‘attack’ or the ‘spiker’. 1942 R. E. Laveaga Volleyball v. 47 In studying the movement of the attack the spiker leaves the floor as soon as..the set up is made. 1953 Mod. Volleyball iii. 31 The spiker should land facing the net. 1965 B. J. Trotter Volleyball for Girls & Women iv. 83 The Key-Set..reverse sets the ball to the right forward spiker. 1989 Times 24 Nov. 44/3 The setter is often the key figure, always playing the ball from just in front of and below the level of the net..and adroitly placing it..for a spiker. |
▪ III. spiker, n.3 N.Z. colloq.
(ˈspaɪkə(r))
[f. spike n.2 + -er1.]
= spike-buck s.v. spike n.2 6.
| 1924 J. Forbes N.Z. Deer Heads p. xvi, The same day..we saw the first bull—a spiker. 1972 P. Newton Sheep Thief ix. 72 Jim was just able to pick up the dark shape of a single deer... It was a well-grown spiker. 1981–2 Deer Farmer (N.Z.) Summer 10/2 This does not simply apply to mature bucks; in fact spikers are the worst. |