Showing results for "spoke"

• past tense form of speak.

spoke

¹ American  

[spohk] / spoʊk /

verb

1. a simple past tense of speak.

2. Nonstandard. a past participle of speak.

3. Archaic. a past participle of speak.

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spoke ² American  

[spohk] / spoʊk /

noun

• spokes
  plural

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.

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verb (used with object)

spoked, spoking

1. to fit or furnish with or as with spokes.

spoke ¹ British  

/ spəʊk /

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. to thwart someone's plans

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verb

1. (tr) to equip with or as if with spokes

spoke ² British  

/ spəʊk /

verb

1. the past tense of speak

2. archaic a past participle of speak

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• spokeless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• spokes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of spoke

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English spāca; cognate with Dutch speek, German Speiche

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Explanation

A spoke is a bar or rod that connects the center of a wheel to its rim. The purpose of spokes is to support the structure of the wheel. You can jazz up your bike by weaving ribbons between the spokes. Originally, spoke meant "a piece of a split log." When wagon wheels were made of wood, they were formed using these spokes, which were carved into matching shapes. Wheels with spokes were invented around 2000 B.C.E. or even earlier, and they revolutionized travel, making vehicles lighter and faster. Experts believe that spoke shares a root with spike.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spoke spokes spoked spoking

For the better part of this year, both governments spoke optimistically about the possibility of finalising the interim deal.

From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2026

Vrancken spoke later about individual errors and that was obvious, but what else?

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

BBC Sport spoke to figures from across the boxing world to get their predictions.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

The Wall Street Journal spoke with several New York City homeowners who continue to host Airbnb guests about their experiences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Fin-Kedinn raised a hand for silence, then spoke to Torak.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Since World War II the alliance had worked like a wheel: The U.S. as the indispensable hub and the rest as spokes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

However, Wales will relish the chance to stick a spanner in the spokes and puncture such title pretensions.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2025

Which it achieves by connecting to us like the spokes of a wheel.

From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2025

The prison’s design, five long cellblocks that meet at a rotunda like spokes of a wheel, was inspired by the famous Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2024

The only sounds were the whir of spokes, the crunch of tires.

From "Wringer" by Jerry Spinelli

So, on Tuesday’s episode oof What Next, I spoked to Jeff Goodell about what we’re going to do about it.

From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2023

First came the DOM2 horse, followed by the spoked wheel and chariots.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 20, 2021

“It’s hard to put into words what it means to wear the spoked ‘B,’” he wrote.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2021

I also spoked with NBA commissioner Adam Silver andasked him if he would ever punish a player for speaking out on something that Silver personally disagrees with.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 17, 2021

With his handkerchief he polishes the spoked hubcaps and the headlamps; he kicks mud off the running board, cleans the windows and windshield.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

In "Miniature," flowers are magnified to astronomical proportions: One dandelion is yellow, is a solar flame spoking from a green nether rim; the other gray, a dainty crumb-cake of a moon.

From Time Magazine Archive

A large piece of graphed paper containing a design for an outdoor space: a fountain in the middle and pebble pathways spoking out from it.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Souilly was barely a hamlet surrounded by farmland, a cluster of small cottages spoking out like a wheel from a modest stone town hall.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Your Lordschip knawis weall the man: he hes spoking with your Lordschip: I thought yow content with him.

From The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6) by David Laing

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