From Northern Middle English dik and dike (“ditch”), from Old Norse díki (“ditch”). Influenced by Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”) and Middle Low German dīk (“dam”). See also ditch.
Meanings
(US, alt-of, standard) US standard spelling of dyke.
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. 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:
From Northern Middle English dik and dike (“ditch”), from Old Norse díki (“ditch”). Influenced by Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”) and Middle Low German dīk (“dam”). See also ditch.
Meanings
(US, alt-of, standard) US standard spelling of dyke.
In 1983, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decreed that the Romanian Danube delta, one of Europe's largest wetlands, be diked for growing rice and maize. 2001 November 16, Karen F. Schmidt, “Ecology: A True-Blue Vision for the Danube”, in Science, volume 294, number 5546, →DOI, pages 1444–1447:
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. 1996 September 27, Michael Miner, “WVON Won't Take the Bait”, in The Chicago Reader:
“They are most commonly referred to as wire cutters, side cutters, dikes or dykes within the US electrical industry […]” 2026 May 1, 4" Mini Dipped Handle Diagonal Pliers - Crescent Tools:
“The word ‘dikes’ is widely used to mean ‘diagonal cutters’, a kind of wire cutter.” 2003 December 29, The Jargon File: