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Pike (Military weapon consisting)

a military weapon, consisting of a narrow, elongated lance-head fixed to a pole or a simple spike of metal. The end of the staff had also a spike for insertion in the ground, thus allowing a musketeer to keep off the approach of cavalry while attending to his other arms. It is now superseded by the bayonet. Also, any individual of the genus Esox, especially Esox lucius, the common pike. It is one of the larger fresh-water fishes, sometimes attaining a length of five or six feet, and much esteemed for food. Pikes are extremely voracious, and small fish and frogs form their staple food. They commence to spawn at three years old; the ova are deposited in March, and the spawning season lasts about three months. The pike are migrants, and have been known to travel overland.

The head and back are olive-brown, sides paler, belly silvery white; body mottled with roundish spots, which sometimes form cross bars on tail. The English name has reference to the elongated form of the fish, or the shape of its snout.