dyke

== English == === Alternative forms === dike (US) === Etymology 1 === A variant of dike, from Northern Middle English dik and dike (“ditch”), from Old Norse díki (“ditch”). Influenced by Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”) and Middle Low German dīk (“dam”). See also ditch. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dīkiją (“trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into”). The semantic evolution (also seen in several cognate words) was from "stick (a spade) into" to "dig" to "hole or other product of digging", "excavation", then the ridge of earth created when excavating a ditch, then to a ridge of earth intended to prevent flooding. ==== Pronunciation ==== IPA(key): /ˈdaɪ̯k/ (Canadian raising) IPA(key): /ˈdʌɪ̯k/, /ˈdɜɪ̯k/ (Scotland) IPA(key): /ˈdʌi̯k/, /ˈdəi̯k/ Rhymes: -aɪk ==== Noun ==== dyke (plural dykes) (British spelling) An earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers. (now chiefly Scotland) A low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker. A raised causeway. (historical) A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to conduct water. (dialect) Any navigable watercourse. (dialect) Any watercourse. (dialect) Any small body of water. (geology) A body of rock (usually igneous) originally filling a fissure but now often rising above the older stratum as it is eroded away. (now chiefly Australia, slang) A place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory. An embankment formed by the spoil from the creation of a ditch. (obsolete) Any hollow dug into the ground. (historical) A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to serve as a boundary marker. A wall, especially (obsolete outside heraldry) a masoned city or castle wall. (dialect) Any fence or hedge. (figuratively) Any impediment, barrier, or difficulty. A beaver's dam. (dialect) A jetty; a pier. (dialect, mining) A fissure in a rock stratum filled with intrusive rock; a fault. ===== Synonyms ===== (long, narrow excavation): ditch, trench, fosse (small body of water): puddle, pond, pool, lakelet, mere (any hollow): den, cave, hole, pit (any embankment): bank, embankment, earthwork (barrier of stone or earth): bank, embankment, dam, levee, breakwater, floodwall, seawall ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== ditch dig ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== dyke (third-person singular simple present dykes, present participle dyking, simple past and past participle dyked) (transitive or intransitive) To dig, particularly to create a ditch. (transitive) To surround with a ditch, to entrench. (transitive, Scotland) To surround with a low dirt or stone wall. (transitive or intransitive) To raise a protective earthwork against a sea or river. (transitive) To scour a watercourse. (transitive) To steep [fibers] within a watercourse. === Etymology 2 === Uncertain. Attested since the 1940s (in Berrey and Van den Bark’s 1942 American Thesaurus of Slang) or 30s. Semantic development from dyke (“ditch”) has been proposed, and some sources from the 1890s are said to record dyke as slang for "vulva" and hedge of the dyke as slang for "pubic hair", but Green's Dictionary of Slang says this is not found in connection to lesbianism and Dictionary.com considers a connection unlikely. Bull dyke / bulldike is attested earlier, in reference to women since at least the 1920s (the 29 July 1892 Decatur Daily Review in Illinois mentions a woman who "won the affections of Harvey Neal, alias 'Bulldyke'", whose gender is unclear); compare dike (“noun: well-dressed man; verb: be well dressed”)), bulldyker, and bulldyking, which are all attested earlier than bare dyke, e.g. in Parke's 1906 Human Sexuality, in the speech of Philadelphians, and backcountry black Americans. Compare bulldagger, attested since around the same time and used especially by black women. Other linguists suggested that bull dyke(r) referred to strong black women who dug dikes, or derived from bull + dick, perhaps in reference to black men. It has also been suggested dyke is a shortening of morphodyke, from morphodite, from hermaphrodite, but the derivation may go in the other direction instead, with morphodyke being a blend of morphodite with the already-extant word dyke. ==== Noun ==== dyke (plural dykes) (slang, vulgar, usually derogatory and offensive) A lesbian, particularly one with masculine or butch traits or behavior. Synonyms: see Thesaurus:female homosexual (loosely, slang, vulgar, usually derogatory and offensive) A non-heterosexual woman. (slang, vulgar, usually derogatory and offensive) A masculine woman. ===== Usage notes ===== This term for a lesbian is often derogatory (or taken as such) when used by straight people but is also used by some lesbians to refer to themselves positively. See reclaimed word and reappropriation for discussion. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === References === Oxford English Dictionary, "dike | dyke, n.¹" & "dike | dyke, v.¹". === Anagrams === E.D. Ky. == Afrikaans == === Noun === dyke plural of dyk == Scots == === Etymology === From Old English dīc. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /dəik/ === Noun === dyke (plural dykes) A dry-stone wall usually forming a boundary to a wood, field or garden. A mound of earth, stone- or turf-faced, sometimes topped with hedge planting, used as a fence between any two portions of land. A hedge.