PIKE, in war, an offensive weapon, consisting of a wooden shaft, 12 or 14 feet long, with a flat steel head, pointed, called the spear. This weapon was long in use among the infantry; but now the bayonet, which is fixed on the muzzle of the firelock, is substituted in its stead. It is still used by some of the officers of infantry, under the name of spearman. The Macedonian phalanx was a battalion of pikemen. See PHALANX.