dyke

plural dykes · alternative US dike

1. UKAn earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers.

   The king of Texcuco advised the building of a great dike, so thick and strong as to keep out the water.

   1891, Susan Hale, The Story of Nations: Mexico, page 100

   1 more example

   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.

   1953 April, “Devastation in Holland”, in Railway Magazine, page 217

2. ScotlandUKA low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker.

   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 ^([sic]) was first developed, it was simply described as 'the sheep dyke'.'

   2023 February 21, Nick Aitken, Dry Stone Walling - Materials and Techniques, The Crowood Press, →ISBN

3. UKA raised causeway.
4. UKhistoricalA long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to conduct water.
5. UKdialectalAny navigable watercourse.
6. UKdialectalAny watercourse.
7. UKdialectalAny small body of water.

   Synonyms: puddle, pond, pool, lakelet, mere

8. UKgeographyA body of rock (usually igneous) originally filling a fissure but now often rising above the older stratum as it is eroded away.

   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.

   1968, Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa, page 148

9. AustraliaUKslangA place to urinate and defecate: an outhouse or lavatory.

   In Cubbaroo's dim distant past They built a double dyke. Back to back in the yard it stood An architectural dream in wood.

   1977, Ian Slack-Smith, “The Passing of the Twin Seater”, in The Cubbaroo Tales

10. UKAn embankment formed by the spoil from the creation of a ditch.
11. UKobsoleteAny hollow dug into the ground.

    Synonyms: den, cave, hole, pit

12. UKhistoricalA long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to serve as a boundary marker.
13. UKA wall, especially (obsolete outside heraldry) a masoned city or castle wall.

    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'.'

    2023 February 21, Nick Aitken, Dry Stone Walling - Materials and Techniques, The Crowood Press, →ISBN

    2 more examples

    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, [...]

    1722, Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry Speculative and Practical, page 82

    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].

    1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 608

14. UKdialectalAny fence or hedge.
15. UKfigurativelyAny impediment, barrier, or difficulty.

    Synonyms: bank, embankment, dam, levee, breakwater, floodwall, seawall

16. UKA beaver's dam.
17. UKdialectalA jetty; a pier.
18. UKdialectalbusinessA fissure in a rock stratum filled with intrusive rock; a fault.

present singular third person dykes · participle present dyking · participle past dyked · past dyked · alternative US dike

1. UKintransitivetransitiveTo dig, particularly to create a ditch.

   He finds out, soon enough for his weal and his bane, that he is stronger than Nature: and right tyrannously and irreverently he lords it over her, clearing, delving, dyking, building, without fear or shame.

   1866, C[harles] Kingsley, “Prelude. Of the Fens.”, in Hereward the Wake, “Last of the English.” […], volume I, London; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 4

2. UKtransitiveTo surround with a ditch, to entrench.
3. ScotlandUKtransitiveTo surround with a low dirt or stone wall.
4. UKintransitivetransitiveTo raise a protective earthwork against a sea or river.
5. UKtransitiveTo scour a watercourse.
6. UKtransitiveTo steep (fibers) within a watercourse.

plural dykes · alternative US dike

1. UKderogatoryoffensiveslangusuallyvulgarA lesbian, particularly one with masculine or butch traits or behavior.
2. UKbroadlyderogatoryoffensiveslangusuallyvulgarA non-heterosexual woman.
3. UKderogatoryoffensiveslangusuallyvulgarA masculine woman.

plural Dykes

1. countableuncountableA village in Bourne parish, South Kesteven district, Lincolnshire, England, named after Car Dyke (OS grid ref TF1022).
2. countableuncountableA small village in Moray council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NH9858).
3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Greene County, Virginia, United States.
4. countableuncountableA surname.