dike

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

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Etymology 1

Noun

dike (plural dikes)

1. (chiefly US) Alternative form of dyke: ditch; embankment; waterway; etc.
   • 1994, John H. Makin, Norman J. Ornstein, Debt and Taxes: How America Got into Its Budget Mess and What We Can Do about It, New York, NY: Times Books, →ISBN, page 52:

     In 1574, the duke of Alva laid siege to Leiden to gain control of Holland's most beautiful and prosperous city. To relieve the siege, William of Orange and his followers opened the city's protective dikes to flush out—literally—the surrounding Spanish forces.

Derived terms

• fill-dike

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^[1]:

     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^[2], volume 294, number 5546, →DOI, pages 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: (slang, usually derogatory) a masculine woman; a lesbian.

References

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

Anagrams

• IDEK, idek

Esperanto

Adverb

dike

1. thickly

Lindu

Noun

dike

1. dog

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 (SAOL)

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish dique, from Dutch dijk.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: di‧ke
• IPA^(key): /ˈdike/, [ˈdi.xɛ]

Noun

dike

1. dike (US); dyke

   Synonyms: saplad, prinsa

Derived terms

• dikehan

Further reading

• “dike”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila: Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, 2018