Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also pike around) to ask questions.

1908		K. McGaffey Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. xvii: I been piking around for a hunch for some time.
1920		T.H. Kelly What Outfit, Buddy? 76: Say, you ought to have seen the guys pike me off.
1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 76: He started pikin’ around to find out what you do for a livin’.

2. (also pike off, pike the eye) to look at.

1903		A. Adams Log of a Cowboy 200: We ran across three of the boys piking at a monte game.
1908		Eve. World (NY) 22 Aug. 8/5: I had nothing else to do but pike them off.
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 274: Dey just reckon to pike along upstairs, lookin into each room till dey finds you.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 176: pike the eye To look at.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 157/2: Pike off. To watch, often surreptitiously, as in preparing for robbery or blackmail.
1959		D.A. Ringe ‘Misc.’ in AS XXXIV:4 306: The verb pike, possibly related to peek, meaning ‘to be nosy, to pry, to look at or watch with great curiosity’.