pike
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pike,
in U.S. history: see turnpiketurnpike,road paid for partly or wholly by fees collected from travelers at tollgates. It derives its name from the hinged bar that prevented passage through such a gate until the toll was paid. See also road.
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pike,
weapon: see spearspear,primitive weapon consisting of a wooden shaft tipped with a sharp point, usually 8 to 9 ft (2.4–2.7 m) in length. The point may be carved from the shaft and hardened in a fire, or made from another material; the oldest non-wood spear tips were of flint, later of
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pike,
common name for the family Esocidae, freshwater game and food fishes of Europe, Asia, and North America. The pike, the muskellunge, and the pickerel form a small but well-known group of long, thin fishes with spineless dorsal fins, large anal fins, and long, narrow jaws with formidable teeth. There are several species in the single genus Esox, found in the lakes and streams of central and E North America. The muskellunge, named by the Native Americans, is the largest of these, averaging from 2 to 7 ft (61–213.5 cm) in length and from 10 to 20 lb (4.5 to 9 kg) in weight, though some may reach 60 lb (27 kg). Carnivorous and solitary except at spawning time, muskellunges feed on fish, frogs, snakes, and even the young of aquatic mammals and waterfowl. The northern or great northern pike, E. lucius, called jackfish in Canada and pike in Europe, is also voracious, lurking in weedy shallows to ambush its prey. This pike is said to consume one fifth of its own weight (10–35 lb or 4.5–16 kg) daily. Although a prized game fish in its native habitat, it has been reviled as a pest with the potential to devastate other game species in areas where it has been introduced. The pickerels are smaller members of the family. The grass and redfin pickerels, subspecies of the American pickerel, rarely exceed 1 ft (30 cm) in length and 1 lb (.45 kg) in weight; the large chain, or eastern, pickerel is found in clear lakes and streams together with bass. Pikes are stubborn fighters and are valued as game fishes; their flesh, though bony, is delicious. The walleyed pike is a perchperch,common name for some members of the family Percidae, symmetrical freshwater fishes of N Europe, Asia, and North America. The perches belong to the large order Perciformes (spiny-finned fishes) and are related to the sunfishes and the sea basses.
..... Click the link for more information. . Pikes are classified in the phylum ChordataChordata
, phylum of animals having a notochord, or dorsal stiffening rod, as the chief internal skeletal support at some stage of their development. Most chordates are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but the phylum also includes some small marine invertebrate animals.
..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Actinopterygii, order Esociformes, family Esocidae.
pike
[pīk] (geology)
A mountain or hill which has a peaked summit.
(vertebrate zoology)
Any of about five species of predatory fish which compose the family Esocidae in the order Clupeiformes; the body is cylindrical and compressed, with cycloid scales that have deeply scalloped edges.
Pike
“he expectorates vehemently” [Am. Lit.: At Home and Abroad, Hart, 655]
See: Coarseness
pike
11. any of several large predatory freshwater teleost fishes of the genus Esox, esp E. lucius (northern pike), having a broad flat snout, strong teeth, and an elongated body covered with small scales: family Esocidae
2. any of various similar fishes
pike
2 Northern English dialect a pointed or conical hill
pike
3, piked (of the body position of a diver) bent at the hips but with the legs straight