dyke
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /daɪk/
rhymes: -aɪk
Forms: form: dykes
form: dike
Etymology: 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.
Senses: glosses: A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to serve as a boundary marker.
glosses: A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to conduct water.
glosses: Any navigable watercourse.
glosses: Any watercourse.
glosses: Any small body of water.
glosses: Any hollow dug into the ground.
examples: text: In Cubbaroo's dim distant past
 They built a double dyke.
 Back to back in the yard it stood
 An architectural dream in wood.
ref: 1977, Ian Slack-Smith, “The Passing of the Twin Seater”, in The Cubbaroo Tales:
glosses: A place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.
glosses: An embankment formed by the spoil from the creation of a ditch.
examples: text: Inchbrakie gives for Arms, Or, a Dyke (or Wall) Feſsways, broke down in ſome places, and in Baſe a Roſe Gules, on a chief Sable three Eſcalops of the firſt. The Dyke (or Wall) here, is aſſumed not only to difference, but to perpetuate the valiant Action of Graham before mentioned; in throwing down the Wall and Ditch, which the Romans made betwixt Forth and Clyde, to keep out the Scots, [...]
ref: 1722, Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry Speculative and Practical, page 82:
text: Wall, (sometimes called a dyke, fr. mur) : this is generally found in connection with castles or towns which are walled (muraillé). A wall of which kind should be masoned (fr. maçonné) and embattled (fr. crenellé), even though this be not specified. [...] Or, a dyke [or wall] fesswise [masoned proper] broken down in some places gules; [...] —Graham, Inchbrakie, Scotland [similar arms borne by Græme of Stapleton].
ref: 1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 608:
text: The Galloway Dyke / In southwest Scotland there is a local style of dry stone dyke that is now recognized as 'the Galloway dyke', although when this pattern of was first developed, it was simply described as 'the sheep dyke'.
ref: 2023 February 21, Nick Aitken, Dry Stone Walling - Materials and Techniques, The Crowood Press, →ISBN:
glosses: A wall, especially (obsolete outside heraldry) a masoned city or castle wall.
examples: text: The Galloway Dyke / In southwest Scotland there is a local style of dry stone dyke that is now recognized as 'the Galloway dyke', although when this pattern of was first developed, it was simply described as 'the sheep dyke'.
ref: 2023 February 21, Nick Aitken, Dry Stone Walling - Materials and Techniques, The Crowood Press, →ISBN:
glosses: A low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker.
glosses: Any fence or hedge.
examples: text: The king of Texcuco advised the building of a great dike, so thick and strong as to keep out the water.
ref: 1891, Susan Hale, The Story of Nations: Mexico, page 100:
text: Serious as was the flood damage in England, the bursting of some of the dykes on the coast of Holland resulted in an even more widespread and devastating inundation.
ref: 1953 April, “Devastation in Holland”, in Railway Magazine, page 217:
glosses: An earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers.
glosses: Any impediment, barrier, or difficulty.
glosses: A beaver's dam.
glosses: A jetty; a pier.
glosses: A raised causeway.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A fissure in a rock stratum filled with intrusive rock; a fault.
examples: text: Their exact relationship to the host-rock is obscure but from their texture and observed metamorphic relationship they are thought to be intrusive dykes rather than intercalations of more basic lava.
ref: 1968, Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa, page 148:
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: A body of rock (usually igneous) originally filling a fissure but now often rising above the older stratum as it is eroded away.
Synonyms: sense: long, narrow excavation
word: ditch
sense: long, narrow excavation
word: trench
sense: long, narrow excavation
word: fosse
sense: small body of water
word: puddle
sense: small body of water
word: pond
sense: small body of water
word: pool
sense: small body of water
word: lakelet
sense: small body of water
word: mere
sense: any hollow
word: den
sense: any hollow
word: cave
sense: any hollow
word: hole
sense: any hollow
word: pit
sense: any embankment
word: bank
sense: any embankment
word: embankment
sense: any embankment
word: earthwork
sense: barrier of stone or earth
word: bank
sense: barrier of stone or earth
word: embankment
sense: barrier of stone or earth
word: dam
sense: barrier of stone or earth
word: levee
sense: barrier of stone or earth
word: breakwater
sense: barrier of stone or earth
word: floodwall
sense: barrier of stone or earth
word: seawall
Derived terms: Devil's Dyke
dry-stone dyke
dyke-back
dyke bottom
dykelet
dyke-phase
dyke phase
dyke road
dyke-rock
dyke swarm
dyke-swarm
dyke up
fail dyke
February fill-dyke
fill-dyke
finger in the dyke
King's Dyke
Related terms: ditch
dig