pikes
“with a vice—You must put in the,”
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, v. 2.
19.
“The circular ‘bucklers’ of the sixteenth
century, now called more commonly targets, had frequently a central spike, or ‘pike,’ usually affixed by a screw. It was probably found convenient to detach this
spike occasionally; for instance, in cleaning the buckler, or in case of that piece of
defensive armour being carried about on any occasion when not actually in use. A sharp
projecting spike, four or five inches long, would obviously be inconvenient. . . . ‘Vice’ is the French vis, a screw, a
word still in common use, the female screw being called écrou.”
Note (communicated by Mr. Albert Way) in Thoms's Three Notelets on Shakespeare, p. 128.