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

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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

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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

Syck, sicke, and to-towe sike, And sicke and like to die; The sikest nighte that ever I abode, God lord have mercy on me!

From Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Third Series by Frank Sidgwick

If them as is left, should know waat's coom tiv'un, there'll be sike a revolution and rebel!—Ding!

From Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

“There’s nowt to make sike a pother about,” he growled.

From The Great Mogul by Louis Tracy

It made sike a noise all roond aboot, That folks com far to see; Some said it was a dreadful thing, An' sum said 't was a lee.

From Yorkshire Dialect Poems (1673-1915) and traditional poems by Frederic William Moorman

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

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