DictionaryAI

dyke

USDYK/daɪk/

Pluraldykes

Verbdykes, dyking, dyked

19 meanings of dyke

Practice

  1. 1
    nounslangderogatoryoffensiveslurcountable
    A rude, offensive word for a lesbian, or for any woman someone thinks looks or acts like a man.

    UsageSome lesbians use it proudly about themselves, but other people should avoid it.

    Note
  2. 2
    flood banknounUKcountable
    A long wall of earth built to stop the sea or a river from flooding the land.

    The farmers built a dyke to keep the river off their fields.

    After the storm, workers checked the dykes along the coast for cracks.

    UsageIn American English: dike.

    Similarlevee, embankment, seawall, bank

    Note
  3. 3
    rock veinnounUKcountable
    A sheet of rock that fills a crack in older rock, usually formed when melted rock flowed in and cooled.

    On the beach we followed a dark dyke that ran across the rocks into the sea.

    Because the dykes are often harder than the rock around them, they stand up like low walls.

    Note
  4. 4
    field wallnoundialectalScotlandUKcountable
    A low wall, bank, fence or hedge around a field that shows where it ends.

    We climbed over the stone dyke to get into the next field.

    The farmer spent the summer mending the dykes around his land.

    UsageOften dry stone dyke. Most people elsewhere say wall.

    Similarwall, bank

    Note
  5. 5
    nounUKcountable
    A long ditch or small river that water flows along.

    The tractor slid off the road and into the dyke.

    Ducks swam along the dyke at the bottom of the field.

    Similarditch, channel, drain, watercourse

  6. 6
    nounhistoricalUKcountable
    A long, narrow ditch dug to show where one piece of land ends.

    Long ago, workers dug a dyke to show where one farm ended and the next began.

    The old dyke is now just a shallow ditch full of grass, but it still marks the edge of the land.

    Similarditch, trench

    Note
  7. 7
    build flood banksverbUKtransitive or intransitive
    To build a high bank of earth to keep the sea or a river out.

    The farmers dyked the low fields to keep the river out.

    Every village along the coast had to dyke against the winter storms.

  8. 8
    barrier (idea)nounfigurativelyUKcountable
    Something that blocks the way or makes things hard.

    Similarbarrier, bulwark, obstacle

  9. 9
    raised roadnounUKcountable
    A raised road or path across wet or low land.

    We cycled along the dyke with water on both sides.

    The old dyke across the bog is now a footpath.

    Similarcauseway

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of dyke apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 2–14

From an Old Norse word for a ditch. It came to mean the bank of earth dug out of a ditch, then a bank that stops floods.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

  • Dyke derives from an Old Norse word meaning ditch. en.wiktionary.org
  • The meaning developed to the excavated bank beside a ditch and then to a bank preventing floods. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 1

Its origin is uncertain; the word is recorded from the 1930s or 1940s.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts