dike
/daɪk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.85 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative form of deck: (US dialect slang, obsolete) A well-dressed man.
noun
Alternative form of dyke, Alternative form of deck: (slang, usually derogatory) a masculine woman; a lesbian.
Example Sentences
- "In 1574, the duke of Alva laid siege to Leiden to gain control of Holland's most beautiful and prosperous city. To relieve the siege, William of Orange and his followers opened the city's protective dikes to flush out—literally—the surrounding Spanish forces."
- "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."
- "In 1983, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decreed that the Romanian Danube delta, one of Europe's largest wetlands, be diked for growing rice and maize."
- "“The word ‘dikes’ is widely used to mean ‘diagonal cutters’, a kind of wire cutter.”"
- "“They are most commonly referred to as wire cutters, side cutters, dikes or dykes within the US electrical industry […]”"
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dʰeygʷ-, dik, díki, dijc, dīk, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /daɪk/
- British English: /daɪk/