spike
To defeat a selection mechanism by introducing a
(sometimes temporary) device that forces a specific result.
The word is used in several industries; telephone engineers
refer to spiking a relay by inserting a pin to hold the relay
in either the closed or open state, and railroaders refer to
spiking a track switch so that it cannot be moved. In
programming environments it normally refers to a temporary
change, usually for testing purposes (as opposed to a
permanent change, which would be called {hard-coded}).
(1999-10-18)