spoke

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One of the rods or braces connecting the hub and rim of a wheel.
2. n. Nautical One of the handles projecting from the rim of a ship's steering wheel.
3. n. A rod or stick that may be inserted into a wheel to prevent it from turning.
4. n. A rung of a ladder.
5. v. To equip with spokes.
6. v. To impede (a wheel) by inserting a rod.
7. v. Past tense of speak.
8. v. Archaic A past participle of speak.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One of the bars, rods, or rungs which are inserted in the hub or nave of a wheel, and serve to support the rim or felly; a radius of a wheel. See cut under felly.
2. n. One of the rounds or rungs of a ladder.
3. n. One of a number of pins or handles jutting from the periphery of the steering-wheel of a vessel.
4. n. A bar of wood or metal so placed in or applied to the wheel of a vehicle as to prevent its turning, as when going down a hill. See second phrase below.
5. To fit or furnish with spokes: as, to spoke a wheel.
6. Preterit and obsolete past participle of speak.
7. n. See spoke-stitch.

Wiktionary

1. n. A piece that fits between the axle and the round outside, or rim, of a wheel.
2. v. transitive To furnish (a wheel) with spokes.
3. v. Simple past of speak.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. imp. of speak.
2. n. The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly.
3. n. (Naut.) A projecting handle of a steering wheel.
4. n. A rung, or round, of a ladder.
5. n. A contrivance for fastening the wheel of a vehicle, to prevent it from turning in going down a hill.
6. v. To furnish with spokes, as a wheel.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim
2. n. one of the crosspieces that form the steps of a ladder