HANDSPIKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does handspike mean? 

• HANDSPIKE (noun)
  The noun HANDSPIKE has 1 sense:

1. a metal bar (or length of pipe) used as a lever

  Familiarity information: HANDSPIKE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HANDSPIKE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("handspike" is a kind of...):

bar (a rigid piece of metal or wood; usually used as a fastening or obstruction or weapon)

 Context examples 

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.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

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 a handspike.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There were the two watchmen, sure enough: red-cap on his back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix and his teeth showing through his open lips; Israel Hands propped against the bulwarks, his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before him on the deck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow candle.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I had to argy wi' them aboot it wi' a handspike; an' when the last o' them rose off the deck wi' his head in his hand, I had convinced them that, evil eye or no evil eye, the property and the trust of my owners were better in my hands than in the river Danube.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)