bicycle
[bahy-si-kuh l, -sik-uh l, -sahy-kuh l]
- a vehicle with two wheels in tandem, usually propelled by pedals connected to the rear wheel by a chain, and having handlebars for steering and a saddlelike seat.
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- to ride a bicycle.
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- to ship or transport directly by bicycle or other means.
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Origin of bicycle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bicycle
Contemporary Examples
As I was coming out, my sister [Valerie] tugged on me and said, ‘That’s the boy who kicked me off my bicycle.
So I went home—we only lived about a quarter mile away—and I got on my bicycle and rode back, and he was in the donut shop.
The street is closed to traffic and kids run unfettered across inviting hopscotch squares and bicycle lanes.
Allah, Mom, and Baklava: Turkish President Uses Mothers and Kids as Political PawnsXanthe Ackerman
November 27, 2014
Two of the recruits have admitted to two sexual assaults and a bicycle theft in Market Square right at the center of the old town.
Bicycle riders are prudent to fear being clipped by a passing car.
Historical Examples
Nimrod said his bicycle betrayed itself, too, only not so badly.
A Woman TenderfootGrace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
And he sold his camel yesterday and bought a bicycle instead.
The Book of KhalidAmeen Rihani
Dismount and walk past any horse that becomes frightened at your bicycle.
An air-pressure is then produced in the tank with a bicycle pump.
Boys' Book of Model BoatsRaymond Francis Yates
He took her bicycle from her, and, turning, walked with her back into the park.
The MissionaryGeorge Griffith
bicycle
- a vehicle with a tubular metal frame mounted on two spoked wheels, one behind the other. The rider sits on a saddle, propels the vehicle by means of pedals that drive the rear wheel through a chain, and steers with handlebars on the front wheelOften shortened to: cycle, informal bike
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- (intr) to ride a bicycle; cycle
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Word Origin
C19: from bi- 1 + Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kuklos wheel
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bicycle
n.
1868, coined from bi- "two" + Greek kyklos "circle, wheel" (see cycle (n.)), on the pattern of tricycle; both the word and the vehicle superseding earlier velocipede. The English word probably is not from French, though often said to be (many French sources say the French word is from English). The assumption apparently is because Pierre Lallement, employee of a French carriage works, improved Macmillan's 1839 pedal velocipede in 1865 and took the invention to America. See also pennyfarthing. As a verb, from 1869.
That ne plus ultra of snobbishness -- bicyclism. [1876]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper