DIKE


Meaning of DIKE in English

I. noun

or dyke ˈdīk

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English dīc ditch, dike; akin to Middle High German tīch pond, dike, Old Norse dīki swamp, ditch, Latin figere to fasten, pierce, Lithuanian diegti to prick

1.

a. : an artificial watercourse (as for drainage)

b. now dialect Britain : any natural or artificial watercourse

Thames, the king of dikes — Alexander Pope

c. : pool , pond

2.

a. dialect Britain : a wall or fence of turf or stone

b. : a bank usually of earth constructed to control or confine water : levee

the dikes of Holland prevent the sea from flooding the land

c. : a barrier preventing passage especially protecting against or excluding something undesirable

the legions were a dike against the barbarian hordes

3.

a. dialect Britain : a bank of earth thrown up from a ditch

b. : a raised causeway

c.

[so called from its standing up like a wall in places where the material that once surrounded it has been eroded away]

: a tabular body of igneous rock that has been injected while molten into a fissure — see composite dike

II. verb

or dyke “

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: Middle English diken, from dike, n.

transitive verb

: to surround or protect with a dike ; also : to drain by a dike or ditch

intransitive verb

: to work as a ditcher : dig : work at making a dike

III. transitive verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: perhaps alteration of deck (II)

chiefly Midland : to dress in fine clothes — usually used with out or up

all diked out for the party

IV.

variant of dyke herein

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.