dyke

¹

[ dahyk ]

noun

, dyked, dyk·ing.

1. dike ¹.

dyke

²

[ dahyk ]

noun

, Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.

1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a lesbian.

dyke

¹

/ daɪk /

noun

1. slang.
   a lesbian

Dyke

²

/ dɑɪk /

noun

1. DykeGreg(ory)1947MBritishFILMS AND TV: television executive Greg ( ory ). born 1947, British television executive; director-general of the BBC (2000–04)

dyke

³

/ daɪk /

noun

1. an embankment constructed to prevent flooding, keep out the sea, etc
2. a ditch or watercourse
3. a bank made of earth excavated for and placed alongside a ditch
4. a wall, esp a dry-stone wall
5. a barrier or obstruction
6. a vertical or near-vertical wall-like body of igneous rock intruded into cracks in older rock
7. informal.
   1. a lavatory
   2. ( as modifier )

      a dyke roll

verb

1. civil engineering an embankment or wall built to confine a river to a particular course
2. tr to protect, enclose, or drain (land) with a dyke

Sensitive Note

The terms dyke and bull dyke are used with disparaging intent and are perceived as insulting. However, they have been adopted as positive terms of self-reference by young or radical lesbians and in the academic community. In the mainstream gay community, lesbian and gay remain the terms of choice.

Other Words From

• dyk·ey adjective dykier dykiest

Word History and Origins

Origin of dyke¹

First recorded in 1940–45; earlier in form bulldike (with a variant bulldagger ); of obscure origin; claimed to be a shortening of morphodyke (variant of morphodite, a reshaping of hermaphrodite ), though morphodyke is more likely a blend of morphodite and a preexisting dyke; other hypothesized connections, such as with diked out or dike “ditch,” are dubious on semantic grounds

Word History and Origins

Origin of dyke¹

C20: of unknown origin

Origin of dyke²

C13: modification of Old English dic ditch; compare Old Norse dīki ditch

Example Sentences

Long, dyked ridges, foam-tipped with snow-white quartzite rocks, stretched away to infinity, north and south; here and there a naked granite finger pointed to the cloudless sky.

From Project Gutenberg

Perhaps these quadrupeds are as numerous in the vicinity of Philadelphia as elsewhere, as I have never examined a stream of fresh water, dyked meadow, or mill-dam, hereabout, without seeing traces of vast numbers.

From Project Gutenberg

Before another rainy season, the Etruscans and the Romans, working together, had made a very fair beginning on the dyking and draining of the worst of the marshes and the bridging of bad places.

From Project Gutenberg

Cairo has since been built into a considerable town by dyking out the rivers, and was an important naval and military point during the Civil War....

From Project Gutenberg

When the Loyalists arrived in 1783 the dyked marsh lands produced about 400 tons of hay, but it was said that “if tilled and ditched they would produce much more.”

From Project Gutenberg