Noah Webster
Spoke
SPOKE, preterit tense of speak.
SPOKE, noun [G., this word, whose radical sense is to shoot or thrust, coincides with spike, spigot, pike, contracted from to spew.]
1. 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.
2. The spar or round of a ladder. [Not in use in the United States.]