"piker" meaning in English

See piker in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈpaɪkə(ɹ)/ Audio: en-au-piker.ogg Forms: pikers [plural]
Rhymes: -aɪkə(ɹ) Etymology: From pike + -er. In some senses, it has been linked etymologically to the word pikey as well as to Pike County in eastern Missouri https://web.archive.org/web/20051111194645/http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0300200.html. In the latter instance the term originally denoted poor immigrants to California. Etymology templates: {{suffix|en|pike|er}} pike + -er Head templates: {{en-noun}} piker (plural pikers)
  1. (military, historical) A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman. Tags: historical Categories (topical): Military
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-Bjbn~sOM Topics: government, military, politics, war
  2. One who bets or gambles only with small amounts of money.
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-foZR8rOb
  3. A stingy person; a cheapskate.
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-1vEy2RlV
  4. An amateur.
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-9sWCPj38
  5. (Australia) A bullock living in the wild. (Also used attributively.) Tags: Australia
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-ip1SGhg0 Categories (other): Australian English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 4 entries, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 9 2 5 26 12 23 17 2 Disambiguation of Pages with 4 entries: 2 4 0 1 15 10 12 16 0 18 18 2 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 1 6 0 1 19 8 15 13 0 17 17 1 1
  6. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who refuses to go out with friends, or leaves a party early; a spoilsport or "chicken". Tags: Australia, New-Zealand, slang
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-43bYfB1~ Categories (other): Australian English, New Zealand English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 4 entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 9 2 5 26 12 23 17 2 Disambiguation of Pages with 4 entries: 2 4 0 1 15 10 12 16 0 18 18 2 2
  7. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who pikes (quits or backs out of a promise). Tags: Australia, New-Zealand, slang
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-PuP0qv6t Categories (other): Australian English, New Zealand English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 4 entries, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 9 2 5 26 12 23 17 2 Disambiguation of Pages with 4 entries: 2 4 0 1 15 10 12 16 0 18 18 2 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 1 6 0 1 19 8 15 13 0 17 17 1 1
  8. (US, dated) A male freshman at Cornell University. Tags: US, dated
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-rqJw3ilU Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -er, Pages with 4 entries, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 4 9 2 5 26 12 23 17 2 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er: 4 6 1 5 20 12 15 36 1 Disambiguation of Pages with 4 entries: 2 4 0 1 15 10 12 16 0 18 18 2 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 1 6 0 1 19 8 15 13 0 17 17 1 1
  9. A tramp; a vagrant. Synonyms: pike
    Sense id: en-piker-en-noun-E9f11-mS

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pike",
        "3": "er"
      },
      "expansion": "pike + -er",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From pike + -er. In some senses, it has been linked etymologically to the word pikey as well as to Pike County in eastern Missouri https://web.archive.org/web/20051111194645/http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0300200.html. In the latter instance the term originally denoted poor immigrants to California.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pikers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "piker (plural pikers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Military",
          "orig": "en:Military",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1974, Thomas Keneally, Blood Red, Sister Rose, page 82:",
          "text": "Upstairs in a waiting room there were pikers whose tunics echoed Baudricourt′s gold lion shield painted up and down the rafters.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Cathal J. Nolan, Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, page 363:",
          "text": "By 1600, the ratio of pikers to gunmen was roughly 3:2. By mid-century the ratio was only 1:2, and by 1670 there was just one piker to every three gunmen in the French Army.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-Bjbn~sOM",
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          "military"
        ],
        [
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          "soldier"
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        [
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          "pike"
        ],
        [
          "pikeman",
          "pikeman"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military, historical) A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:",
          "text": "“[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1921, B. M. Bower, Cow Country, published 2004, page 79:",
          "text": "Bud swelled his chest and laid his hand on Jeff′s shoulder. “Just to show you I′m not a piker,” he cried recklessly, “I′ll bet you twenty-five dollars I can beat your Skeeter with my Smoky horse that I rode in here. Is it a go?”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Lael Morgan, Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, page 96:",
          "text": "“Now, boys,” said Marie walking up and down the bar, once or twice lifting her skirt to her knees and laughing. “The last bid′s $5,000. Say, ain′t you pikers a-goin′ to bid higher than that for this?\" And another flick of her skirts. “Here′s a nice plump chicken awaiting for a home.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who bets or gambles only with small amounts of money."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-foZR8rOb",
      "links": [
        [
          "bet",
          "bet"
        ],
        [
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          "gamble"
        ],
        [
          "money",
          "money"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1916, Richard Harding Davis, The Man Who Could Not Lose, published 2008, page 22:",
          "text": "“And if you′ve got to be a piker,” said Dolly, “don′t be ashamed to be a piker. We′re not spending a hundred dollars because we can afford it, but because you dreamt a dream.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000, Peter L. Bernstein, The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession, page 218:",
          "text": "The golden nuggets in the stream at Sutter′s Mill in California made Croesus look like a piker, and Australia, the Klondike, and South Africa were yet to come.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 604:",
          "text": "Whatever else this cupcake might be up to, she was no piker. For everything the Q′s ordered, she added on more of the same.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A stingy person; a cheapskate."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-1vEy2RlV",
      "links": [
        [
          "stingy",
          "stingy"
        ],
        [
          "cheapskate",
          "cheapskate"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "An amateur."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-9sWCPj38",
      "links": [
        [
          "amateur",
          "amateur"
        ]
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
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          "_dis": "4 9 2 5 26 12 23 17 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 4 0 1 15 10 12 16 0 18 18 2 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 4 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "1 6 0 1 19 8 15 13 0 17 17 1 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 269:",
          "text": "‘There's always a few old piker bullocks find their way into this country. But mostly cattle don't come this far.’",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A bullock living in the wild. (Also used attributively.)"
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-ip1SGhg0",
      "links": [
        [
          "bullock",
          "bullock"
        ],
        [
          "wild",
          "wild"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Australia) A bullock living in the wild. (Also used attributively.)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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          "name": "New Zealand English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "4 9 2 5 26 12 23 17 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 4 0 1 15 10 12 16 0 18 18 2 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 4 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Mate, don't be a piker! Come to Angie′s birthday party tonight!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who refuses to go out with friends, or leaves a party early; a spoilsport or \"chicken\"."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-43bYfB1~",
      "links": [
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          "spoilsport"
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        [
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          "chicken"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who refuses to go out with friends, or leaves a party early; a spoilsport or \"chicken\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "New-Zealand",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Australian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "New Zealand English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "4 9 2 5 26 12 23 17 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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        {
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          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who pikes (quits or backs out of a promise)."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-PuP0qv6t",
      "links": [
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          "pike",
          "pike"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who pikes (quits or backs out of a promise)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "New-Zealand",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
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          "source": "w"
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        {
          "_dis": "4 6 1 5 20 12 15 36 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -er",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
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          "kind": "other",
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        {
          "_dis": "1 6 0 1 19 8 15 13 0 17 17 1 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A male freshman at Cornell University."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-rqJw3ilU",
      "links": [
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          "male",
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        [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, dated) A male freshman at Cornell University."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "dated"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A tramp; a vagrant."
      ],
      "id": "en-piker-en-noun-E9f11-mS",
      "links": [
        [
          "tramp",
          "tramp"
        ],
        [
          "vagrant",
          "vagrant"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "pike"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpaɪkə(ɹ)/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-piker.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/67/En-au-piker.ogg/En-au-piker.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/En-au-piker.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪkə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "piker"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -er",
    "Pages with 4 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪkə(ɹ)",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪkə(ɹ)/2 syllables"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pike",
        "3": "er"
      },
      "expansion": "pike + -er",
      "name": "suffix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From pike + -er. In some senses, it has been linked etymologically to the word pikey as well as to Pike County in eastern Missouri https://web.archive.org/web/20051111194645/http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/p/p0300200.html. In the latter instance the term originally denoted poor immigrants to California.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pikers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "piker (plural pikers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Military"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1974, Thomas Keneally, Blood Red, Sister Rose, page 82:",
          "text": "Upstairs in a waiting room there were pikers whose tunics echoed Baudricourt′s gold lion shield painted up and down the rafters.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Cathal J. Nolan, Wars of the Age of Louis XIV, 1650-1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, page 363:",
          "text": "By 1600, the ratio of pikers to gunmen was roughly 3:2. By mid-century the ratio was only 1:2, and by 1670 there was just one piker to every three gunmen in the French Army.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman."
      ],
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        [
          "pikeman",
          "pikeman"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military, historical) A soldier armed with a pike, a pikeman."
      ],
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        "historical"
      ],
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        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ]
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    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:",
          "text": "“[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1921, B. M. Bower, Cow Country, published 2004, page 79:",
          "text": "Bud swelled his chest and laid his hand on Jeff′s shoulder. “Just to show you I′m not a piker,” he cried recklessly, “I′ll bet you twenty-five dollars I can beat your Skeeter with my Smoky horse that I rode in here. Is it a go?”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Lael Morgan, Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, page 96:",
          "text": "“Now, boys,” said Marie walking up and down the bar, once or twice lifting her skirt to her knees and laughing. “The last bid′s $5,000. Say, ain′t you pikers a-goin′ to bid higher than that for this?\" And another flick of her skirts. “Here′s a nice plump chicken awaiting for a home.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who bets or gambles only with small amounts of money."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
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          "gamble"
        ],
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      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1916, Richard Harding Davis, The Man Who Could Not Lose, published 2008, page 22:",
          "text": "“And if you′ve got to be a piker,” said Dolly, “don′t be ashamed to be a piker. We′re not spending a hundred dollars because we can afford it, but because you dreamt a dream.”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000, Peter L. Bernstein, The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession, page 218:",
          "text": "The golden nuggets in the stream at Sutter′s Mill in California made Croesus look like a piker, and Australia, the Klondike, and South Africa were yet to come.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 604:",
          "text": "Whatever else this cupcake might be up to, she was no piker. For everything the Q′s ordered, she added on more of the same.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A stingy person; a cheapskate."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "stingy",
          "stingy"
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        [
          "cheapskate",
          "cheapskate"
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    {
      "glosses": [
        "An amateur."
      ],
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        [
          "amateur",
          "amateur"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "English terms with quotations"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 269:",
          "text": "‘There's always a few old piker bullocks find their way into this country. But mostly cattle don't come this far.’",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A bullock living in the wild. (Also used attributively.)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "bullock",
          "bullock"
        ],
        [
          "wild",
          "wild"
        ]
      ],
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        "(Australia) A bullock living in the wild. (Also used attributively.)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "New Zealand English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Mate, don't be a piker! Come to Angie′s birthday party tonight!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who refuses to go out with friends, or leaves a party early; a spoilsport or \"chicken\"."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "spoilsport",
          "spoilsport"
        ],
        [
          "chicken",
          "chicken"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who refuses to go out with friends, or leaves a party early; a spoilsport or \"chicken\"."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "New-Zealand",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Australian English",
        "English slang",
        "New Zealand English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who pikes (quits or backs out of a promise)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "pike",
          "pike"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Australia, New Zealand, slang) One who pikes (quits or backs out of a promise)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Australia",
        "New-Zealand",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English dated terms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A male freshman at Cornell University."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "male",
          "male"
        ],
        [
          "freshman",
          "freshman"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, dated) A male freshman at Cornell University."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "dated"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A tramp; a vagrant."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tramp",
          "tramp"
        ],
        [
          "vagrant",
          "vagrant"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "pike"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpaɪkə(ɹ)/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-piker.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/67/En-au-piker.ogg/En-au-piker.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/En-au-piker.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪkə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "piker"
}

Download raw JSONL data for piker meaning in English (6.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.