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Webster 1913 Edition

Dike

Dike

(dī)
,
Noun.
[OE.
dic
,
dike
,
diche
, ditch, AS.
dīc
dike, ditch; akin to D.
dijk
dike, G.
deich
, and prob.
teich
pond, Icel.
dīki
dike, ditch, Dan.
dige
; perh. akin to Gr.
τεῖχοσ
(for
θεῖχος
) wall, and even E.
dough
; or perh. to Gr.
τῖφοσ
pool, marsh. Cf.
Ditch
.]
1.
A ditch; a channel for water made by digging.
Little channels or
dikes
cut to every bed.
Ray.
2.
An embankment to prevent inundations; a levee.
Dikes
that the hands of the farmers had raised . . .
Shut out the turbulent tides.
Longfellow.
3.
A wall of turf or stone.
[Scot.]
4.
(Geol.)
A wall-like mass of mineral matter, usually an intrusion of igneous rocks, filling up rents or fissures in the original strata.

Dike

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Diked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Diking
.]
[OE.
diken
,
dichen
, AS.
dīcian
to dike. See
Dike
.]
1.
To surround or protect with a dike or dry bank; to secure with a bank.
2.
To drain by a dike or ditch.

Dike

,
Verb.
I.
To work as a ditcher; to dig.
[Obs.]
He would thresh and thereto
dike
and delve.
Chaucer.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dike

DIKE

,
Noun.
[G. See Dig. It is radically the same word as ditch, and this is its primary sense; but by an easy transition, it came to signify also the bank formed by digging and throwing up earth. Intrenchment is sometimes used both for a ditch and a rampart.]
1.
A ditch; an excavation made in the earth by digging, of greater length than breadth, intended as a reservoir of water, a drain, or for other purpose.
2.
A mound of earth, of stones, or of other materials, intended to prevent low lands, from being inundated by the sea or a river. The low countries of Holland are thus defended by dikes.
3.
A vein of basalt, greenstone or other stony substance.

DIKE

,
Verb.
T.
To surround with a dike; to secure by a bank.

DIKE

,
Verb.
I.
To dig. [Not in use.]

Definition 2024

Dike

Dike

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

English

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Dike

  1. A topographic surname​ for someone living near a dike.

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek Δίκη ‎(Díkē, literally “Justice, Order, Judgement”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Dike

  1. (Greek mythology) The goddess/personification of justice, order and judgement and one of the Horae. She is a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and her sisters are Eirene and Eunomia. Her Roman counterpart is Justitia/Iustitia.
  2. (astronomy) Short for 99 Dike, a main belt asteroid.
  3. (poetic) justice, order and judgement.

Coordinate terms

Antonyms
  • Adikia
See also

dike

dike

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

English

Noun

dike ‎(plural dikes)

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

Verb

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; &c.
    • 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 2

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

Verb

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 terms
  • diked out
  • diked up

Noun

dike ‎(plural dikes)

  1. (US dialect slang, obsolete) A well-dressed man.
  2. (US dialect slang, obsolete) Formalwear or other fashionable dress.
Derived terms
  • out on a dike

Etymology 3

See dyke

Noun

dike ‎(plural dikes)

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

References

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

Esperanto

Adverb

dike

  1. thickly

Swedish

Etymology

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

Noun

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.

Declension

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

Usage notes

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

Related terms

  • dika
  • dika ut
  • dikesgrävning
  • dikeskant
  • dikeskörning
  • dikesren
  • dikning
  • köra i diket
  • täckdike
  • utdikning

References

Etymology

From Middle English.

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