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dike

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

Contents

EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

NounEdit

dike (plural dikes)

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

VerbEdit

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 2Edit

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

VerbEdit

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 termsEdit

NounEdit

dike (plural dikes)

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

Etymology 3Edit

See dyke

NounEdit

dike (plural dikes)

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

ReferencesEdit

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

EsperantoEdit

AdverbEdit

dike

  1. thickly

SwedishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

NounEdit

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 notesEdit

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

DeclensionEdit

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

Related termsEdit

ReferencesEdit

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