sike

¹ American  

[sahyk] / saɪk /

Or syke

noun

Scot. and North England.

• sikes
  plural

1. a small stream.

2. a gully or ditch, especially one that fills with water after a heavy rain.

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sike ² American  

[sahyk] / saɪk /

interjection

1. a less common spelling variant of psych.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sikes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sike¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old Norse sīk “small stream, ditch, pond”; cognate with Old English sīc “rill,” Middle Low German sīk “puddle”; akin to Old High German seih “urine,” Old English sicerian “to ooze”

Origin of sike²

First recorded in 2000–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sike sikes

"Sike, sike, sike, sike. Nah, you good. I guess I can be seen with you now."

From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds

An' 'e says, "Na," says 'e, "don't do thet, for God's sike, Kitie, I'll git three months."

From Liza of Lambeth by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

If ivv’ry ward an’ secret thowght, Mun be yan day te judgment browght, Oh, how unlike sike wark as this, Is that which leads te glorious bliss!

From Awd Isaac, The Steeple Chase, and other Poems With a glossary of the Yorkshire Dialect by John Castillo

We needn’t te wonder they mack sike a fuss, Ther craft is i’ danger fra’ rebels like us:— For God can mack preeachers—hoo feearful the thowght— Fra’ cobblers, or meeasons, or blacksmiths, or owght!

From Awd Isaac, The Steeple Chase, and other Poems With a glossary of the Yorkshire Dialect by John Castillo

Many a reader of the anonymous quarto of 1579 must have joined in Cuddie's exclamation: Sicker, sike a roundel never heard I none!

From Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama A Literary Inquiry, with Special Reference to the Pre-Restoration Stage in England by Walter W. Greg

They had passed my friend jotting down an epitaph, and the turn of a corner revealed me sketching a tombstone, when one to the other exclaimed, "Land sikes, Bill, if 'ere ain't another on em!"

From In Search of Gravestones Old and Curious by W.T. (William Thomas) Vincent