dike

See also: Dike, Dikê, dikë, Dikē, and dyke

English

Etymology 1

Noun

dike (plural dikes)

1. (chiefly US) Alternative form of dyke: ditch; embankment; waterway; etc.

Verb

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

1. (chiefly US) Alternative form of dyke: to dig a ditch; to raise an earthwork; etc.
   • 1996 September 27, Michael Miner, "WVON Won't Take the Bait" in The Chicago Reader:

     Lakeside water-filtration plants, an 11,000-acre diked airport east of 55th Street, slash-and-bulldoze highway projects through Jackson and Lincoln parks—these and many another grandiose project leapt from the sketchbooks of city planners.

   • 2001 November 16, Karen F. Schmidt, "Ecology: A True-Blue Vision for the Danube" in Science, Vol. 294, No. 5546, pp. 1444-1447:

     In 1983, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decreed that the Romanian Danube delta, one of Europe's largest wetlands, be diked for growing rice and maize.

Etymology 2

Of uncertain etymology, first attested in mid-19th century Virginia. Possibly a variant of deck and deck out or influenced by them.

Verb

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

1. (US dialectal slang, obsolete) To be well dressed.

Derived terms

• diked out
• diked up

Noun

dike (plural dikes)

1. (US dialectal slang, obsolete) A well-dressed man.
2. (US dialectal slang, obsolete) Formalwear or other fashionable dress.

Derived terms

• out on a dike

Etymology 3

See dyke

Noun

dike (plural dikes)

1. Alternative form of dyke: a masculine woman; a lesbian.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. "dike, n.² and v.²".
• Oxford English Dictionary. "dike | dyke, n.³".

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Esperanto

Adverb

dike

1. thickly

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Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse díki, from Proto-Germanic *dīkiją, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (whence also English ditch).

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.

Usage notes

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

Declension

Declension of dike
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	dike	diket	diken	dikena
Genitive	dikes	dikets	dikens	dikenas

Related terms

• dika
• dika ut
• dikesgrävning
• dikeskant
• dikeskörning
• dikesren
• dikning
• köra i diket
• täckdike
• utdikning

References

• dike in Svenska Akademiens Ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)