title: Spike
text: Spike could mean:
   Nail, especially one more than 100mm (4 inches) long
   Rail spikes used to secure railroad rails to the wooden ties
   Spiked shoes worn by athletes, which provide more traction (similar to cleats)
   An adolescent male deer or male elk
   The Spike is a widely used nickname for the Spire of Dublin, a massive needle-like structure erected in Dublin in 2003
   Spike TV, a cable network that caters to a young male demographic (originally known as TNN, The National Network, or The Nashville Network)
   Spike missile, an Israel-developed guided anti-tank missile
   Spike bayonet, chiefly used on early muskets
   Voltage spike, or electrical surge
   The action potential which transmits signals along a nerve axon is often called a spike
   Spike is a botanical term for an unbranched, indeterminate inflorescence with sessile flowers arranged along the axis
   Spike (company), a video game company
  
  Media with Spike in the title include:
   The Spike (Borchgrave/Moss), a 1980 novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave, former editor of The Washington Times
   Spike of Bensonhurst, a 1988 movie directed by Paul Morrisey
   Spike (Elvis Costello album), a 1989 album by Elvis Costello
   The Spike (1997), a 1997 book by Damien Broderick
   Spike (Puffy AmiYumi album), a 2001 album by Puffy AmiYumi
  
  A number of famous people are named Spike, including:
   Spike, a newcomer Romanian rapper promoted by Parazitii
   Spike Lee, a filmmaker
   Spike Jonze, a filmmaker
   Spike Jones, a satirist
   Spike Milligan, a satirist
   Spike Robinson, a jazz musician
   Spike Slawson, a punk vocalist and bassist of the Swinging Utters and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
   Matt Hyson (aka Spike Dudley), former professional wrestler
   Spike (porn star), a gay pornography actor
   Spike Feresten, television writer and talk show host
   Spike Xavier, Lead Singer of Nu-Metal band Corporate Avenger
   Spike, a Welsh musician, co-founder of Z Block Records, Reptile Ranch and Weekend
   Spike O'Donnell, famous Irish/American gangster from Chicago
  A number of fictional characters have been named Spike, including:
   Spike, a main playable character in the Ape Escape video game series
   Spike Spiegel, from the Japanese anime Cowboy Bebop
   Spike (Buffyverse), a vampire
   Spike, Fonzie's cousin in Happy Days
   Spike Fumo, in Spike of Bensonhurst
   Christine "Spike" Nelson, in the Degrassi series
   Spike Thomson, in Press Gang
   Spike, a member of the Screws Gang in Medabots
   Spike Lester, a character on the soap opera Passions
   The Spike (Marvel Comics), a member of the X-Statix
   Spike Freeman, another character in Marvel Comics' X-Statix/X-Force
   Spike (The Land Before Time), a young stegosaurus in The Land Before Time film series
   "Spike" Stoker, a supporting character from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books
   Joshua "Spike" Cohen, a Jew from Tom Robbins' novel Skinny Legs and All
   Spike, a character originating in Super Mario Bros. 3 who launches spiked mace balls at the player
   Spike, the boss of the Midday Gardens world in the Spyro: Year of the Dragon video game
   Spike, a character in the DC Comics comic book Sugar and Spike
   Spike Lavery, a character on All My Children, he the son Kendall and Ryan
   Father Spike, a high-church parish priest who is mentioned in C.S. Lewis' book The Screwtape Letters
   Spike, Roger Wilco's alien pet in Space Quest V: The Next Mutation
   Spike, a porcupine from the movie Over the Hedge
   Spike Witwicky, a character from the Transformers TV cartoon series and comic books
   Spike (NX Files), a fictional character in an action-adventure web-show called NX Files
   Michelangelo 'Spike' Scarlatti, a fictional character in the Canadian TV series Flashpoint
  
  A number of cartoon dogs have been named Spike:
   Spike (Ace Ventura), Ace Ventura's dog in the motion picture Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
  Spike (Goofy Movie)
  Spike (Peanuts), Snoopy's brother in Peanuts
   Spike (Tom and Jerry), Tom's and the other cats' nemesis in the cartoon series Tom and Jerry
   Spike the Bulldog and Chester the Terrier, in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons
   Spike, the family pet in Rugrats
   Spike, Heathcliff's nemesis in the comic strip and animated series Heathcliff
   Spike, Droopy's nemesis in Tex Avery's Droopy Dog theatrical cartoon series
  
  As a place name, Spike may refer to:
   Spike is the former name of a village in Derbyshire now known as Poolsbrook
  
  In sports, Spike may refer to:
   A spike is an offensive attack in volleyball
   Spiking in American football is to throw the ball forcefully and intentionally into the ground
   In Track and Field and cross country running, spiking an opponent (or sometimes, inadvertently, a team mate) is to kick them with the metal spikes in the bottom of the runner's shoe