fill-dyke

A form of February fill-dike — A rural appellation for the month of February, when rain or melting snow fills dykes with water.

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Meanings

proper noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of February fill-dike.

    Fill-dyke: February, the month of rainfall

    [2016, Melissa Harrison, Rain: Four Walks in English Weather, →ISBN
    1 more example

    Even Anglo-Saxon spin doctors gave up when it came to giving February a good name. Our ancestors called this dreary month 'Sprout-Kale', on account of cabbages being the only things that were showing signs of life. When they weren't saying things like, 'I'll be glad when Sprout-Kale is over,' they were grumbling, 'Fill-Dyke is wetter than usual' because that was another term they used for this depressing time of year.

    1998 February 28, Susan Crewe, “From the Editor”, in House & Garden (UK edition), volume 53, number 2 (whole number 559)

Origin

From fill + dyke.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

fill-dyke. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fill-dyke

MLA

“fill-dyke.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fill-dyke. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fill-dyke,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fill-dyke.

Source: fill-dyke on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.