bicycle
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English
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Bicycle_diagram-en_%282%29.svg/300px-Bicycle_diagram-en_%282%29.svg.png)
Etymology
[edit]Borrowed from French bicycle (modern bicyclette), from bi- (“bi-”) + cycle (“cycle”). First attested in English in 1868, and in French in 1847.
(promiscuous woman): From double meaning of ride ("to transport oneself upon" vs. "to mount someone to have sex with them"). A communal bicycle would have many riders.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈbaɪsɪk(ə)l/
- (Canada, idle-idol split) IPA(key): /ˈbʌɪsɪkəl/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (UK): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file) - Hyphenation: bi‧cy‧cle
Noun
[edit]bicycle (plural bicycles)
- A vehicle that has two wheels, one behind the other, a steering handle, and a saddle seat or seats and is usually propelled by the action of a rider’s feet upon pedals.
- Synonyms: (clipping) bike, pushbike, (historical) velocipede; see also Thesaurus:bicycle
- Hypernym: cycle
- 1882, “Principle in Small Things”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 22, page 274:
- In most English villages, as we are informed, bicycles are not allowed on the sidewalks; and the hand-books issued by English manufacturers of bicycles caution their customers that it is a forbidden practice, while in many places bells have to be attached to the bicycles even when ridden in the streets.
- A traveling block used on a cable in skidding logs.
- The best possible hand in lowball.
- (British, Australia, New Zealand) A motorbike.
- (vulgar slang, usually in compounds specifying a context) A slut; a promiscuous woman.
- 2002, Minette Walters, Fox Evil, Macmillan, pages 162–3:
- ‘What sort of bullying does this sergeant go in for?’ ‘Character assassination,’ she said in a matter-of-fact tone that belied the very real difficulties it was causing her. ‘There’s a lot of whispering about slags and tarts behind my back and sniggers whenever I appear. Half of the men seem to think I’m a dyke who needs curing, the other half think I’m the platoon bicycle. [...]’
- (climbing) A stabilizing technique in which one foot is pushed down while the other is pulled up.
- (poker slang) The wheel: either the lowest straight (A-2-3-4-5) or the best low hand in Lowball or High-low poker.
Derived terms
[edit]- antibicycle
- autobicycle
- a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle
- balance bicycle
- bicyclable
- bicycle bridge
- bicycle carrier
- bicycle clip
- bicycle crunch
- bicycle gear
- bicycle helmet
- bicycle Irish
- bicycle kick
- bicycle landing gear
- bicycle lane
- bicyclelike
- bicycle mail
- bicycle monarchy
- bicycle motocross
- bicycle path
- bicycle pump
- bicycler
- bicycle rack
- bicycle roundabout
- bicycle stand
- bicycle tire
- bicycle touring
- bicycle tourist
- bicycle wrench
- bicyclian
- bicyclism
- bicyclist
- Christ on a bicycle
- e-bicycle
- electric bicycle
- exercise bicycle
- exercycle
- fandom bicycle
- fixed-gear bicycle
- ghost bicycle
- gravel bicycle
- like riding a bicycle
- lowrider bicycle
- motorbicycle
- mountain bicycle
- recumbent bicycle
- ride the cotton bicycle
- road bicycle
- safety bicycle
- stationary bicycle
- tandem bicycle
- touring bicycle
- town bicycle
- village bicycle
- water bicycle
Related terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Burmese: ဘိုင်စကယ် (bhuingca.kai)
- → Kashubian: bajsykla (Canada, United States)
- → Malay: basikal
- → Maltese: bajsikil
- → Papiamentu: baiskel
- →⇒ Serbo-Croatian: bajs
- → Sranan Tongo: baisigri
- → Swahili: baiskeli
- → Urdu: بائیسِکَل (bāīsikal)
Translations
[edit]vehicle
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb
[edit]bicycle (third-person singular simple present bicycles, present participle bicycling, simple past and past participle bicycled)
- (transitive, intransitive) To travel or exercise using a bicycle.
- 1903 December 26, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC:
- “At least it cannot be your health," said he, as his keen eyes darted over her; "so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy.” […] “Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something to do with my visit to you to-day.”
- (television, historical, transitive) To physically ship (a recorded programme) to another broadcasting entity.
- 2002, Roger Phillips Smith, The Other Face of Public Television, page 56:
- “Bicycling” defeated the possibility of topicality, a prime production habit of the network-trained production executives staffing the new entity.
- 2014, Horace Newcomb, Encyclopedia of Television, page 177:
- In turn, two-inch tapes of these could be “bicycled” from one place to another across the country, thereby altering and improving production economies.
Translations
[edit]to ride a bicycle
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French
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]bicycle m (plural bicycles)
- bicycle
- Synonym: bicyclette
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “bicycle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *kʷel-
- English terms borrowed from French
- English terms derived from French
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
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- British English
- Australian English
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- en:Climbing
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- English verbs
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- en:Television
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- English hybridisms
- en:Bicycle types
- en:Cycling
- en:Two
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
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- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns