dike

See also: Dike, Dikê, dikë, and Dikē

English

Alternative forms

• dyke

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /daɪk/
• 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?) Susan Hale, 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

ditch — see ditch

ditch and bank running alongside each other

• Bulgarian: канавка (bg) f (kanavka), отводнителен канал (otvodnitelen kanal)
• Dutch: sloot (nl) f
• Finnish: vallihauta (fi)
• French: fossé (fr) m
• German: Graben (de) m

• Italian: fosso (it) m
• Portuguese: trincheira f
• Russian: сточная канава f (stóčnaja kanáva), канава (ru) f (kanáva), ров (ru) m (rov), траншея (ru) f (tranšéja)

barrier to prevent flooding

• Armenian: ամբարտակ (ambartak)
• Bulgarian: дига (bg) f (diga)
• Czech: hráz (cs) f
• Danish: dige (da) n
• Dutch: dijk (nl) m
• Estonian: tamm
• Finnish: tulvapato
• French: digue (fr) f
• German: Deich (de) m

• Italian: diga (it) f, argine (it) m
• Korean: 둑 (duk)
• Latin: diga f
• Macedonian: канач m (kánač), трапиште n (trápište)
• Maori: ahuriri
• Portuguese: dique (pt) m
• Romanian: dig (ro) n
• Russian: дамба (ru) (damba)
• Spanish: dique (es) m

lesbian — see dyke

geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks

See also

• dough
• duck
• duct
• thick

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To surround or protect with a dike or dry bank; to secure with a bank.
   • 2001 November 16, Karen F. Schmidt, “ECOLOGY: A True-Blue Vision for the Danube”^[1], Science, volume 294, number 5546, DOI:10.1126/science.294.5546.1444, pages 1444-1447: 

     Next News Focus ECOLOGY: A True-Blue Vision for the Danube Karen F. Schmidt * Romanian scientists are at the forefront of a European effort to balance the protection and exploitation of vast, diverse wetlands B UCHAREST-- In 1983, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decreed that the Romanian Danube delta, one of Europe's largest wetlands, be diked for growing rice and maize.

   • 1996 September 27, Michael Miner, “WVON Won't Take the Bait/Meigs and the Dailies: The Long View”, 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.

2. (transitive) To drain by a dike or ditch.

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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.

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)