Dictionary

dyke en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈdʌi̯k/ (Scotland)
• /ˈdaɪ̯k/
• /ˈdɜɪ̯k/ Canadian raising
• /ˈdʌɪ̯k/ Canadian raising
• /ˈdəi̯k/ (Scotland)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

A variant of dike, 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. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dīkiją (“trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into”). The semantic evolution (also seen in several cognate words) was from "stick (a spade) into" to "dig" to "hole or other product of digging", "excavation", then the ridge of earth created when excavating a ditch, then to a ridge of earth intended to prevent flooding.

Meanings

1. (UK) An earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers.
   • Serious as was the flood damage in England, the bursting of some of the dykes on the coast of Holland resulted in an even more widespread and devastating inundation. 1953 April, “Devastation in Holland”, in Railway Magazine, page 217:
   • The king of Texcuco advised the building of a great dike, so thick and strong as to keep out the water. 1891, Susan Hale, The Story of Nations: Mexico, page 100:
2. (Scotland, UK) A low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker.
   • The Galloway Dyke / In southwest Scotland there is a local style of dry stone dyke that is now recognized as 'the Galloway dyke', although when this pattern of ^([sic]) was first developed, it was simply described as 'the sheep dyke'.' 2023 February 21, Nick Aitken, Dry Stone Walling - Materials and Techniques, The Crowood Press, →ISBN:
3. (UK) A raised causeway.
4. (UK, historical) A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to conduct water.
5. (UK, dialectal) Any navigable watercourse.
6. (UK, dialectal) Any watercourse.
7. (UK, dialectal) Any small body of water.
8. (UK) A body of rock (usually igneous) originally filling a fissure but now often rising above the older stratum as it is eroded away.
   • Their exact relationship to the host-rock is obscure but from their texture and observed metamorphic relationship they are thought to be intrusive dykes rather than intercalations of more basic lava. 1968, Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa, page 148:
9. (Australia, UK, slang) A place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
   • In Cubbaroo's dim distant past They built a double dyke. Back to back in the yard it stood An architectural dream in wood. 1977, Ian Slack-Smith, “The Passing of the Twin Seater”, in The Cubbaroo Tales:
10. (UK) An embankment formed by the spoil from the creation of a ditch.
11. (UK, obsolete) Any hollow dug into the ground.
12. (UK, historical) A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to serve as a boundary marker.
13. (UK) A wall, especially (obsolete outside heraldry) a masoned city or castle wall.
    • Inchbrakie gives for Arms, Or, a Dyke (or Wall) Feſsways, broke down in ſome places, and in Baſe a Roſe Gules, on a chief Sable three Eſcalops of the firſt. The Dyke (or Wall) here, is aſſumed not only to difference, but to perpetuate the valiant Action of Graham before mentioned; in throwing down the Wall and Ditch, which the Romans made betwixt Forth and Clyde, to keep out the Scots, [...] 1722, Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry Speculative and Practical, page 82:
    • The Galloway Dyke / In southwest Scotland there is a local style of dry stone dyke that is now recognized as 'the Galloway dyke', although when this pattern of was first developed, it was simply described as 'the sheep dyke'.' 2023 February 21, Nick Aitken, Dry Stone Walling - Materials and Techniques, The Crowood Press, →ISBN:
    • Wall, (sometimes called a dyke, fr. mur) : this is generally found in connection with castles or towns which are walled (muraillé). A wall of which kind should be masoned (fr. maçonné) and embattled (fr. crenellé), even though this be not specified. [...] Or, a dyke [or wall] fesswise [masoned proper] broken down in some places gules; [...] —Graham, Inchbrakie, Scotland [similar arms borne by Græme of Stapleton]. 1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 608:
14. (UK, dialectal) Any fence or hedge.
15. (UK, figuratively) Any impediment, barrier, or difficulty.
16. (UK) A beaver's dam.
17. (UK, dialectal) A jetty; a pier.
18. (UK, dialectal) A fissure in a rock stratum filled with intrusive rock; a fault.

Forms

Deriveds

dry-stone dyke · February fill-dyke · dyke bottom · fail dyke · dyke road · dyke-back · dyke up · dyke-swarm · dyke swarm · dykelet · King's Dyke · Devil's Dyke · finger in the dyke · fill-dyke · dyke phase · dyke-phase · dyke-rock

Relateds

dig · ditch

Synonyms

lakelet (small body of water) · pit (any hollow) · embankment (any embankment) · seawall (barrier of stone or earth) · ditch (long, narrow excavation) · floodwall (barrier of stone or earth) · pond (small body of water) · levee (barrier of stone or earth) · bank (any embankment) · dam (barrier of stone or earth) · den (any hollow) · pool (small body of water) · mere (small body of water) · earthwork (any embankment) · cave (any hollow) · breakwater (barrier of stone or earth) · fosse (long, narrow excavation) · trench (long, narrow excavation) · bank (barrier of stone or earth) · embankment (barrier of stone or earth) · puddle (small body of water) · hole (any hollow)

Translations (64)

ga cladán (barrier to prevent flooding) · sv gång (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · nl sloot (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · mi ahuriri (barrier to prevent flooding) · fr fossé (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · eo digo (barrier to prevent flooding) · la diga (barrier to prevent flooding) · de Deich (barrier to prevent flooding) · hu dejk (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · fi tulvapato (barrier to prevent flooding) · pl zapora (barrier to prevent flooding) · cs hráz (barrier to prevent flooding) · ka წყალსაწევი (barrier to prevent flooding) · mk трапиште (barrier to prevent flooding) · de Graben (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · pt trincheira (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · ru ров (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · pl grobla (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · et tamm (barrier to prevent flooding) · pl dajka (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · fr digue (barrier to prevent flooding) · ota اور (barrier to prevent flooding) · ka ზღუდარი (barrier to prevent flooding) · ga dingeán (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · vi đê (barrier to prevent flooding) · it argine (barrier to prevent flooding) · it terrapieno (barrier to prevent flooding) · bg канавка (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · ja 堤防 (barrier to prevent flooding) · ro dig (barrier to prevent flooding) · ru сто́чная кана́ва (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · ca dic (barrier to prevent flooding) · de Gesteinsgang (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · grc ἄνδηρον (barrier to prevent flooding) · it dicco (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · ru кана́ва (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · it fosso (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · hu haránttelér (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · lv dambis (barrier to prevent flooding) · ka კაშხალი (barrier to prevent flooding) · pdt Daum (barrier to prevent flooding) · bg дига (barrier to prevent flooding) · it barriera (barrier to prevent flooding) · bg отводнителен канал (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · ka საგუბარი (barrier to prevent flooding) · hi बंधा (barrier to prevent flooding) · ru транше́я (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · ka ჯებირი (barrier to prevent flooding) · mk канач (barrier to prevent flooding) · da dige (barrier to prevent flooding) · fi vallihauta (ditch and bank running alongside each other) · ru да́мба (barrier to prevent flooding) · ar جَيْبْ نَافِذ (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · pt dique (barrier to prevent flooding) · nl dijk (barrier to prevent flooding) · es dique (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · cy clawdd (barrier to prevent flooding) · fi juoni (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · tr dayk (geology: body of once igneous rock injected into older rocks) · it diga (barrier to prevent flooding) · es dique (barrier to prevent flooding) · hi तटबंध (barrier to prevent flooding) · hy ամբարտակ (barrier to prevent flooding) · ko 둑 (barrier to prevent flooding)

dyke en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈdʌi̯k/ (Scotland)
• /ˈdaɪ̯k/
• /ˈdɜɪ̯k/ Canadian raising
• /ˈdʌɪ̯k/ Canadian raising
• /ˈdəi̯k/ (Scotland)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

A variant of dike, 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. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dīkiją (“trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into”). The semantic evolution (also seen in several cognate words) was from "stick (a spade) into" to "dig" to "hole or other product of digging", "excavation", then the ridge of earth created when excavating a ditch, then to a ridge of earth intended to prevent flooding.

Meanings

1. (UK, intransitive, transitive) To dig, particularly to create a ditch.
   • He finds out, soon enough for his weal and his bane, that he is stronger than Nature: and right tyrannously and irreverently he lords it over her, clearing, delving, dyking, building, without fear or shame. 1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “Prelude. Of the Fens.”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 4:
2. (UK, transitive) To surround with a ditch, to entrench.
3. (Scotland, UK, transitive) To surround with a low dirt or stone wall.
4. (UK, intransitive, transitive) To raise a protective earthwork against a sea or river.
5. (UK, transitive) To scour a watercourse.
6. (UK, transitive) To steep [fibers] within a watercourse.

Forms

dyke en · NOUN · etymology 2

Etymology

Uncertain. Attested since the 1940s (in Berrey and Van den Bark’s 1942 American Thesaurus of Slang) or 30s. Semantic development from dyke (“ditch”) has been proposed, and some sources from the 1890s are said to record dyke as slang for "vulva" and hedge of the dyke as slang for "pubic hair", but Green's Dictionary of Slang says this is not found in connection to lesbianism and Dictionary.com considers a connection unlikely. Bull dyke / bulldike is attested earlier, in reference to women since at least the 1920s (the 29 July 1892 Decatur Daily Review in Illinois mentions a woman who "won the affections of Harvey Neal, alias 'Bulldyke'", whose gender is unclear); compare dike (“noun: well-dressed man; verb: be well dressed”)), bulldyker, and bulldyking, which are all attested earlier than bare dyke, e.g. in Parke's 1906 Human Sexuality, in the speech of Philadelphians, and backcountry black Americans. Compare bulldagger, attested since around the same time and used especially by black women. Other linguists suggested that bull dyke(r) referred to strong black women who dug dikes, or derived from bull + dick, perhaps in reference to black men. It has also been suggested dyke is a shortening of morphodyke, from morphodite, from hermaphrodite, but the derivation may go in the other direction instead, with morphodyke being a blend of morphodite with the already-extant word dyke.

Meanings

1. (UK, derogatory, offensive, slang, usually, vulgar) A lesbian, particularly one with masculine or butch traits or behavior.
2. (UK, broadly, derogatory, offensive, slang, usually, vulgar) A non-heterosexual woman.
3. (UK, derogatory, offensive, slang, usually, vulgar) A masculine woman.

Forms

Deriveds

designer dyke · dykephobia · dykedom · byke · bull dyke · leatherdyke · dykey · dyke tyke · bi-dyke · dykeling · kike dyke · dykedar · diesel dyke · dykon · big dyke energy · dykehood · busy as a dyke in a hardware store · dyke out · dykery · tryke · boydyke · dykish · babydyke

Translations (11)

ja おなべ (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · pt caminhoneira (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · ru кобёл (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · da betonlebbe (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · de Kampflesbe (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · fi rekkalesbo (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · ak ɔbaa-barima (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · fr gouine (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · pt fufa (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · pl męska lesbijka (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian) · pt sapatão (masculine lesbian — see also butch, lesbian)