dike

¹ American  

[dahyk] / daɪk /

Or dyke

noun

1. an embankment for controlling or holding back the waters of the sea or a river.

   They built a temporary dike of sandbags to keep the river from flooding the town.

2. a ditch.

3. a bank of earth formed of material being excavated.

4. a causeway.

5. British Dialect.  a low wall or fence, especially of earth or stone, for dividing or enclosing land.

6. an obstacle; barrier.

7. Geology.

   1. a long, narrow, cross-cutting mass of igneous rock intruded into a fissure in older rock.

   2. a similar mass of rock composed of other kinds of material, as sandstone.

8. Australian Slang.  a urinal.

---

verb (used with object)

diked, diking

1. to furnish or drain with a dike.

2. to enclose, restrain, or protect by a dike.

   to dike a tract of land.

dike ² American  

[dahyk] / daɪk /

noun

Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.

1. dyke.

---

dike British  

/ daɪk /

noun

1. a variant spelling of dyke 1

---

dike Scientific  

/ dīk /

1. A body of igneous rock that cuts across the structure of adjoining rock, usually as a result of the intrusion of magma. Dikes are often of a different composition from the rock they cut across. They are usually on the order of centimeters to meters across and up to tens of kilometers long.

2. See illustration at batholith

3. An embankment of earth and rock built to prevent floods or to hold irrigation water in for agricultural purposes.

---

Usage

What else does dike mean? Dike is an extremely offensive slur for a lesbian. It has been reappropriated by some in the LGBTQ community as a label of pride and solidarity.What are some other forms of dike?dyke

Other Word Forms

• diker noun
• dikey adjective
• undiked adjective

Etymology

Origin of dike

before 900; Middle English dik ( e ), Old English dīc < Old Norse dīki; akin to ditch

Example Sentences

The decision was largely informed by alarmingly low salmon runs as a result of heavily dammed, diked and channeled streams struggling to maintain healthy flows in the face of droughts and warming summers.

From Seattle Times

When the river basin was diked and drained for agriculture, the river became rigid and channeled, acting as a firehose for sediment headed downriver from the stream’s upper reaches.

From Seattle Times

Estuaries — a refuge for growing juvenile salmon — have been diked and drained to create farmland.

From Seattle Times

In the early 1900s, this land was diked and drained to create farmland.

From Seattle Times

The delta was once filled with vast tidal marshes but was dramatically altered as wetlands were diked, drained and converted to farmland.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• barrier
• ditch
• levee