hand·spike

(hănd′spīk′)

A bar used as a lever.

[Alteration of Dutch handspaak : hand, hand (from Middle Dutch hant) + spaak, spoke (from Middle Dutch spāke, stick).]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

handspike

(ˈhændˌspaɪk)

(Tools) a bar or length of pipe used as a lever

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hand•spike

(ˈhændˌspaɪk)

n.

a bar used as a lever.

[1605–15; < Dutch handspaak (see hand, spoke²), with -spaak replaced by spike¹]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

handspike - a metal bar (or length of pipe) used as a lever

bar - a rigid piece of metal or wood; usually used as a fastening or obstruction or weapon; "there were bars in the windows to prevent escape"

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References in classic literature

Then he rapped on the door with a bit of stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly for a glass of rum.

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His prompt reply to all complaints and remonstrances was--the butt-end of a handspike, so convincingly administered as effectually to silence the aggrieved party.

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First mate angry, said it was folly, and to yield to such foolish ideas would demoralise the men, said he would engage to keep them out of trouble with the handspike. I let him take the helm, while the rest began a thorough search, all keeping abreast, with lanterns.

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--was the next command, and the crew sprang for the handspikes. Now, in getting under weigh, the station generally occupied by the pilot is the forward part of the ship.

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That bravely and uninjured takes the jam which would have snapped all their oaken handspikes and iron crowbars.

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The crew fought desperately with knives, handspikes, and whatever weapon they could seize upon in the moment of surprise.

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They, however, at length combined, and came upon me, armed with sticks, stones, and heavy handspikes. One came in front with a half brick.

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As shown in Figure 1, the 2-DOF parallel mechanism is composed of linear motors 14 and 15 and their movers 16 and 17, upper arm orbits 3 and 5, upper arm slip tubes 1 and 4, elbow handspike 2, and upper arm pedestal 13.

ESO-based fuzzy sliding-mode control for a 3-DOF serial-parallel hybrid humanoid arm

Thursday's meeting comes against the backdrop of the case of Warren Lee Hill, who was sentenced to die for the 1990 beating death of fellow inmate Joseph Handspike, who was bludgeoned with a nail-studded board as he slept.

Ga. to review provision on death penalty

In 1990, he fatally battered fellow inmate Joseph Handspike, drawing the death penalty.

Georgia death row inmate's execution remains on hold

By heaven, man, we are turned round and round in this world, like yonder windlass, and Fate is the handspike. (MMD: 481)

Lifting the veil off Old Thunder: the rise of Leviathan