hike
[hahyk]
- to walk or march a great distance, especially through rural areas, for pleasure, exercise, military training, or the like.
- to move up or rise, as out of place or position (often followed by up): My shirt hikes up if I don't wear a belt.
- Nautical. to hold oneself outboard on the windward side of a heeling sailboat to reduce the amount of heel.
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- to move, draw, or raise with a jerk (often followed by up): to hike up one's socks.
- to increase, often sharply and unexpectedly: to hike the price of milk.
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- a long walk or march for recreational activity, military training, or the like.
- an increase or rise, often sharp and unexpected: a hike in wages.
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- take a hike, Slang. to go away because one's company is not desired.
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Origin of hike
First recorded in 1800–10; perhaps dialectal variant of hitch1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for hike on Thesaurus.com1. tramp, ramble, trek, trudge, backpack.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for hike
Contemporary Examples
Until then, we will hike the stairs together, one carpeted step at a time.
To break her self-destructive cycle and heal, she decides to hike 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail solo.
Exclusive: The Making of Reese Witherspoon’s Golden Globe-Nominated ‘Wild’Marlow Stern
December 12, 2014
It was on a hike to the Grand Canyon at age 18 that Shattuck penned her first bucket list.
Voters there also passed a hike in the state minimum wage, with 53 percent of the vote.
That is, soccer was intended to be no fun, like a 50-mile hike.
Historical Examples
Poked an old Civil War pistol out of the window and told me to hike.
They of the High TrailsHamlin Garland
"Hike out the foot-boards; they slide in them grooves," said Dan.
"Captains Courageous"Rudyard Kipling
We don't know ourselves just how far we expect to hike this afternoon.
The Banner Boy Scouts on a TourGeorge A. Warren
The hike was started and continued for three miles, so did the rain.
The Delta of the Triple ElevensWilliam Elmer Bachman
Nothing to do but hike in a marsuit or sun oneself under a dome.
Rebels of the Red PlanetCharles Louis Fontenay
hike
- (intr) to walk a long way, usually for pleasure or exercise, esp in the country
- (usually foll by up) to pull or be pulled; hitch
- (tr) to increase (a price)
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- a long walk
- a rise in prices, wages, etc
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Word Origin
C18: of uncertain origin
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 hike
v.
1809, hyke "to walk vigorously," an English dialectal word of unknown origin. A yike from 1736 answers to the sense.
HIKE, v. to go away. It is generally used in a contemptuous sense. Ex. "Come, hike," i.e. take yourself off; begone. [Rev. Robert Forby, "The Vocabulary of East Anglia," London, 1830]
Sense of "pull up" (as pants) first recorded 1873 in American English, and may be a variant of hitch; extended sense of "raise" (as wages) is 1867. Related: Hiked; hiking. The noun is from 1865.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with hike
hike
see take a hike.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.