I.
Etymology: Middle English spoken (past plural & past participle), alteration of speken (past plural & past participle), from Old English spǣcon (past plural), gespecen (past participle)
past & archaic past part of speak
II. ˈspōk noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English spake, spoke, from Old English spāca; akin to Old Saxon spēca spoke, Middle Dutch speke, speec, Old High German speicha, Middle Dutch spike spike — more at spike
1.
a. : the radius of a wheel : one of the small bars inserted in the hub of a wheel that serve to support the rim : a radiating bar or rod on a wheel — see wheel illustration
b. : something resembling a wheel spoke
2. : a bar or rod designed to serve a specific purpose: as
a. : a rung of a ladder
b. : one of the poles used for bearing a coffin to the grave
c. : baluster 1
the entrance hall was visible through the bannisters' spokes — Kay Boyle
3. : one of the projecting handles of a steering wheel of a boat
4.
a. : a bar of wood or metal to prevent the wheel of a vehicle from turning especially in going downhill : chock
b. : something that impedes : an obstacle to a course of action : obstruction
careless mistakes may be the spoke in the wheel of his advancement
5. : stake 11
6. : a bar in drawnwork consisting of a solid row of buttonholing or overcasting across several threads
7. : the length of rope that passes through the honda to the hand when spinning the rope
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. : to furnish with or as if with spokes
2. : to block or impede with or as if with a spoke
the scheme was my scheme and you might easily have spoked my wheel — F.W.Crofts
intransitive verb
: to jut out like a spoke
another road that spoked into their own — Thomas Wolfe
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: probably from spoke (I) , past participle of speak
1. dialect England : tale , speech
2. dialect England : enchantment