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 dialect slang, obsolete) To be well dressed.

Derived terms

• diked out
• diked up

Noun

dike (plural dikes)

1. (US dialect slang, obsolete) A well-dressed man.
2. (US dialect 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.

Declension

Declension of dike
	Singular		Plural
	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.

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)