dike

plural dikes

1. USstandardUS standard spelling of dyke.

   Holland claimed most of its land from the sea, you know. Dikes and polders, my boy!

   2007, Trenton Lee Stewart, The Mysterious Benedict Society, page 262

   1 more example

   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.

   1994, John H. Makin, Norman J. Ornstein, Debt and Taxes: How America Got into Its Budget Mess and What We Can Do about It, New York, NY: Times Books, →ISBN, page 52

present singular third person dikes · participle present diking · participle past diked · past diked

1. USstandardUS standard spelling of dyke.

   In 1983, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu decreed that the Romanian Danube delta, one of Europe's largest wetlands, be diked for growing rice and maize.

   2001 November 16, Karen F. Schmidt, “Ecology: A True-Blue Vision for the Danube”, in Science, volume 294, number 5546, →DOI, pages 1444–1447

   1 more example

   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.

   1996 September 27, Michael Miner, “WVON Won't Take the Bait”, in The Chicago Reader

present singular third person dikes · participle present diking · participle past diked · past diked

1. USdialectalobsoleteslangTo be well dressed.

plural dikes

1. alternativeAlternative form of deck: (US dialect slang, obsolete) A well-dressed man.

   Synonyms: dapperling, macaroni, toff, barbermonger, beau, blade, blood, buck

2. USdialectalobsoleteslangFormalwear or other fashionable dress.
3. alternativeAlternative form of dyke, Alternative form of deck: (slang, usually derogatory) a masculine woman; a lesbian.

present singular third person dikes · participle present diking · participle past diked · past diked

1. slangengineeringTo cut or remove using dikes.

plural dikes

1. abbreviationcontractionslangengineeringContraction of diagonal cutters.

   “The word ‘dikes’ is widely used to mean ‘diagonal cutters’, a kind of wire cutter.”

   2003 December 29, The Jargon File

   1 more example

   “They are most commonly referred to as wire cutters, side cutters, dikes or dykes within the US electrical industry […]”

   2026 May 1, 4" Mini Dipped Handle Diagonal Pliers - Crescent Tools

1. A topographic surname from Middle English for someone living near a dike.

alternative Dikê · alternative Dikē

1. Greekhuman sciencesThe goddess/personification of justice, order and judgement and one of the Horae. She is a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and her sisters are Eirene and Eunomia. Her Roman counterpart is Justitia.
2. astronomy99 Dike, a main belt asteroid.
3. poeticjustice, order and judgement.