dyke
noun
dike.
dyke
1 American
[dahyk]
/ daɪk /
noun
dyked,
dyking
dyke
2
American
[dahyk]
/ daɪk /
Also
dike
noun
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
dyke
1
British
/ daɪk /
noun
-
an embankment constructed to prevent flooding, keep out the sea, etc
-
a ditch or watercourse
-
a bank made of earth excavated for and placed alongside a ditch
-
a wall, esp a dry-stone wall
-
a barrier or obstruction
-
a vertical or near-vertical wall-like body of igneous rock intruded into cracks in older rock
-
informal
-
a lavatory
-
( as modifier )
a dyke roll
-
verb
-
civil engineering an embankment or wall built to confine a river to a particular course
-
(tr) to protect, enclose, or drain (land) with a dyke
Dyke
2
British
/ dɑɪk /
noun
dyke
3
British
/ daɪk /
noun
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
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The prospect now is that not just his business, but his home on the other side of the dyke that protects the village from the water, could be lost.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026
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
"Each deviation may only appear as an isolated crack in the dyke protecting the banking system, but together these numerous cracks erode soundness and stability," de Guindos said.
From Reuters ● Nov. 8, 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
Jeff Dyke, president of Sonic Automotive, one of the largest car retailers in the U.S., is acutely aware.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Dyke set the England team two targets: reach the semis of Euro in 2020 and win the World Cup in 2022.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
By then, Moore’s starring role in “The Dick Van Dyke Show” was already leading to greater things, including founding MTM Enterprises with then-husband Grant Tinker.
From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2026
We’d come home, relax and watch TV, probably old episodes of “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
He was downrange with one of the old mine telephones O’Dell and Roy Lee had acquired from the mule barn and for which, I remembered, we still owed Mr. Van Dyke.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
By the 1950s, all but 8% of the bay’s 77,000 hectares of marshes had been dyked off or filled for human uses such as agriculture, rubbish dumps, sewage-treatment plants, navy bases, airports and salt ponds.
From Nature ● Oct. 8, 2018
A great strip of Marsh lies contiguous to the city, some of which is dyked and yields excellent grass.
From History of New Brunswick by Peter Fisher
"Let's see if the creeks could be dyked."
From Partners of the Out-Trail by Harold Bindloss
Bit by bit it will get dyked and breakwatered.
From Memories and Studies by Henry James
Utsaladdy, via Sylvan and Stanwood passes of lower Stillaguamish where lie rich dyked lands.
From The Beauties of the State of Washington A Book for Tourists by Harry F. Giles
At the mouth of Cedar Creek there are about twenty acres of overflowed land which could easily be reclaimed by dyking.
From Official Report of the Exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands for the Government of British Columbia by Newton H. (Newton Henry) Chittenden
A description of their methods of dyking and constructing aboideaux, written in 1710, is interesting to those who are doing the same work now.
From The Chignecto Isthmus and its first settlers by Howard Trueman
Cairo has since been built into a considerable town by dyking out the rivers, and was an important naval and military point during the Civil War....
From With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 1 by Various
That means we can do nothing there until next winter, and must continue the dyking all summer.
From Thurston of Orchard Valley by W. Herbert Dunton
Still, you see, he's rash; we have an example in his dyking plan, and I would not like my money squandered.
From Partners of the Out-Trail by Harold Bindloss
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