spick

noun, adj, verb — 3 senses

spick

noun

/spɪk/

Etymology Variant of spike.

1

Obsolete A nail, a spike (slender piece of wood or metal, used as a fastener).

spick

adj

Etymology Variant of spike.

1

Tidy; fresh.

Internally the building bad been modernized and reconstructed to a point where it was doubtful whether its previous tenants would be able to recognize a single room. Outside it had become spick. The yards and sheds had a suburban rather than a rural tidiness and had for years known no form of animal life rougher than a few riding horses and ponies. The farmyard showed no utilitarian sights and gave forth no rustic smells; it had been laid over with close green turf like a bowling green.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 218:

Derived terms: spick-and-span

spick

verb

1

Pronunciation spelling Pronunciation spelling of speak.

“Spick Italiano?” he asked. “No.” “Spick Français?” “Oui,” said Dick, glowering.1934, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night: A Romance, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC; republished as Malcolm Cowley, editor, Tender is the Night: A Romance … With the Author’s Final Revisions, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1951, →OCLC, book IV (Escape: 1925–1929), page 243:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.