sike en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Canada) audio
- /saɪk/
Etymology
From Northern Middle English sike, from Old English sīċ (see sitch), possibly also from or related to Old Norse sík; both from Proto-Germanic *sīką (“slow flowing water; trickle”). Cognate with Norwegian sik. Compare Scots sheuch.
Meanings
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(Northumbria, Scotland) A gutter or ditch; a small stream that frequently dries up in the summer; the marshy ground or ditch through which such a stream flows.
[…] hills and mountains, moss or mure, bank or syke, sea or shore,[…]
1937, Scottish History Society, Publications of the Scottish History Society:[...] a great gathering o' their folk at the Miry-sikes, […]
1820, Walter Scott, Tales of My Landlord: 2nd Series, Collectd and Arranged by Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseud.], page 6:It neither grew in syke nor ditch, Nor yet in ony sheugh;[…]
1859, William Lonsdale Watkinson, William Theophilus Davison, The London Quarterly Review, page 278:The wind made wave the red weed on the dike. Bedoven in dankès deep was every sike;[…]
1876, Rosaline Orme Masson, Three Centuries of English Poetry: Being Selections from Chaucer to Herrick, A Scotch Winter Evening in 1512, page 160:The march of that herding is to come from the Rispie syke to the point at Blood syke Bottom to the stone syke-head.
1952 [1776], Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Transactions and Journal of Proceedings:The swankies lap thro' mire and syke, Wow as their heads did birr!
1809, John Skinner, Amusements of Leisure Hours, or Poetical Pieces, chiefly in the Scottish dialect, page 41:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| syke | alternative | lexicographic | |
| sikes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |