dyke

¹ American  

[dahyk] / daɪk /

noun

dyked, dyking

1. dike.

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dyke ² American  

[dahyk] / daɪk /

Also dike

noun

Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.

1. a contemptuous term used to refer to a lesbian.

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dyke ¹ British  

/ daɪk /

noun

1. an embankment constructed to prevent flooding, keep out the sea, etc

2. a ditch or watercourse

3. a bank made of earth excavated for and placed alongside a ditch

4. a wall, esp a dry-stone wall

5. a barrier or obstruction

6. a vertical or near-vertical wall-like body of igneous rock intruded into cracks in older rock

7. informal

   1. a lavatory

   2. ( as modifier )

      a dyke roll

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verb

1. civil engineering an embankment or wall built to confine a river to a particular course

2. (tr) to protect, enclose, or drain (land) with a dyke

Dyke ² British  

/ dɑɪk /

noun

1. Greg ( ory ). born 1947, British television executive; director-general of the BBC (2000–04)

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dyke ³ British  

/ daɪk /

noun

1. slang a lesbian

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Sensitive Note

The terms dyke and bull dyke are used with disparaging intent and are perceived as insulting. However, they have been adopted as positive terms of self-reference by young or radical lesbians and in the academic community. In the mainstream gay community, lesbian and gay remain the terms of choice.

Other Word Forms

• dykey adjective

Etymology

Origin of dyke

First recorded in 1940–45; earlier in form bulldike (with a variant bulldagger ); of obscure origin; claimed to be a shortening of morphodyke (variant of morphodite, a reshaping of hermaphrodite ), though morphodyke is more likely a blend of morphodite and a preexisting dyke; other hypothesized connections, such as with diked out or dike “ditch,” are dubious on semantic grounds

Example Sentences

I was the little junior dyke at Lesbian Tide with Jeanne Córdova, who had a huge influence on me.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 28, 2023

As I did that, I realized, “Oh, these are all people working inside what I consider dyke culture.”

From New York Times • Jun. 22, 2023

People worked to strengthen an existing dyke as floodwaters threatened the town of Bhan Syedabad in the southern province of Sindh, one of the worst-hit regions.

From Reuters • Sep. 8, 2022

The rising waters reached dangerous levels and posed a threat to a protective dyke and embankment, they said.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 4, 2022

They rattled nine miles in a borrowed car to the quarters that squatted so close that only the dyke separated them from great, sprawling Okechobee.

From "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston