dike

See also Dike, Dikê, dikë, and Dikē

English

Alternative forms

• dyke

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aɪk

Etymology

Middle English (Northern) dik, dike, from Old Norse díki 'ditch, dike'. More at and doublet of ditch.

Noun

dike (plural dikes)

1. (UK) The northern English form of ditch.
2. A ditch and bank running alongside each other.
3. A barrier of stone or earth used to hold back water and prevent flooding.
   • 1891: (Can we date this quote?) Hale, Susan, Mexico, volume 27, The Story of the Nations, London: T. Fisher Unwin, page 100:
     • The king of Texcuco advised the building of a great dike, so thick and strong as to keep out the water.
4. (pejorative) A lesbian, especially a manly or unattractive lesbian.
5. (geology) A body of once molten igneous rock that was injected into older rocks in a manner that crosses bedding planes.

Synonyms

• (barrier of stone or earth): bank, embankment, dam, levee, breakwater, floodwall, seawall
• (long, narrow excavation): ditch

Antonyms

• dune

Related terms

• ditch
• dig

Translations

a ditch and bank running alongside each other

Bulgarian: канавка (bg) f., отводнителен канал (bg) Dutch: sloot (nl) f. French: fossé (fr) m.

German: Graben (de) m. Italian: fosso (it) m. Portuguese: trincheira f.

barrier of stone or earth

Armenian: ամբարտակ (hy) (ambartak) Bulgarian: дига (bg) f. Czech: hráz (cs) f. Danish: dige (da) n. Dutch: dijk (nl) m. Estonian: tamm (et) Finnish: pato (fi) French: digue (fr) f.

German: Deich (de) m. Italian: diga (it) f. Korean: 둑 (duk) Latin: diga (la) f. Macedonian: канач (mk) (kánač) m., трапиште (mk) (trápište) n. Portuguese: dique (pt) m. Romanian: dig (ro) n. Spanish: dique (es) m.

lesbian — see dyke

See also

• dough
• duck
• duct
• thick

Verb

dike (third-person singular simple present dikes, present participle diking, simple past and past participle diked)

1. To erect a dike.

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Esperanto

Adverb

dike

1. thickly

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Swedish

Noun

dike n.

1. ditch; a small canal, for irrigation or drainage

   Han körde i diket med sin nya bil.

   He went off the road with (ditched) his new car.

Declension

Declension of dike

	singular		plural
Neuter	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	dike	diket	diken	dikena
genitive	dikes	dikets	dikens	dikenas

Usage notes

• The phrase "köra i diket" (to ditch) is used also when there's no ditch.

See also

• köra i diket
• dikeskörning
• utdikning
• dika ut