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definitions

spoke

1
[spohk]
See more synonyms for spoke on Thesaurus.com
verb
  1. a simple past tense of speak.
  2. Nonstandard. a past participle of speak.
  3. Archaic. a past participle of speak.

spoke

2
[spohk]
noun
  1. one of the bars, rods, or rungs radiating from the hub or nave of a wheel and supporting the rim or felloe.
  2. something that resembles the spoke of a wheel.
  3. a handlelike projection from the rim of a wheel, as a ship's steering wheel.
  4. a rung of a ladder.
verb (used with object), spoked, spok·ing.
  1. to fit or furnish with or as with spokes.

Origin of spoke

2
before 900; Middle English; Old English spāca; cognate with Dutch speek, German Speiche
Related formsspoke·less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for spokes

purview, ambit, span, extension, space, interval, reach, orbit, expanse, limit, extent, compass, boundary, spoke, semidiameter, streak, pig, stroke, strip, slab

Examples from the Web for spokes

Historical Examples of spokes

  • He swallowed once or twice, and his hands tightened on the spokes of the wheel.

    The Woman-Haters

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • I seized her hands and placed them on the spokes of the wheel.

    The Rise of Roscoe Paine

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • Should he have grasped the spokes near the hub, near the rim, or in the middle?

    Common Science

    Carleton W. Washburne

  • There were four "children of Horus" and four spokes to the wheel of the sun.

  • Its details blurred like the spokes of a swiftly turning wheel.

    Erik Dorn

    Ben Hecht

British Dictionary definitions for spokes

spoke

1
verb
  1. the past tense of speak
  2. archaic, or dialect a past participle of speak

spoke

2
noun
  1. a radial member of a wheel, joining the hub to the rim
  2. a radial projection from the rim of a wheel, as in a ship's wheel
  3. a rung of a ladder
  4. put a spoke in someone's wheel British to thwart someone's plans
verb
  1. (tr) to equip with or as if with spokes

Word Origin for spoke

Old English spāca
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for spokes

spoke

n.

(of a wheel), Old English spaca "spoke," related to spicing "large nail," from Proto-Germanic *spaikon (cf. Old Saxon speca, Old Frisian spake, Dutch spaak, Old High German speicha, German speiche "spoke"), probably from PIE *spei- "sharp point" (see spike (n.1)).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper