Question 1 · Quick check
dyke
CEFRB2
/ˈdaɪ̯k/
noun
Türkçe translations
Translating…
In plain English
- 01
noun
A wall or bank built to hold back water.
- 02
noun
Extra detailA low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker.
Examples
The dyke was repaired and the seawater was pumped out.
I live near the dyke.
At a glance
Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale
- Senses
- 5
- Parts of speech
- 1
- Citations
- 5
- Synonyms
- 5
Also pronounced
- /ˈdʌi̯k/
- /ˈdʌɪ̯k/
Deep Dive
noun
Extra meaningsA raised causeway.
A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to serve as a boundary marker.
An earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers.
More examples
In contextThe king of Texcuco advised the building of a great dike, so thick and strong as to keep out the water.
Serious as was the flood damage in England, the bursting of some of the dykes on the coast of Holland resulted in an even more widespread and devastating inundation.
In Cubbaroo's dim distant past They built a double dyke. Back to back in the yard it stood An architectural dream in wood.
Related
Quick test
Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.
Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.
Nearby
Origin
noun
A variant of dike, from Northern Middle English dik and dike (“ditch”), from Old Norse díki (“ditch”). Influenced by Middle Dutch dijc (“ditch; dam”) and Middle Low German dīk (“dam”). See also ditch. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dīkiją (“trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“stick into, pierce; dig, stick a spade into”). The semantic evolution (also seen in several cognate words) was from "stick (a spade) into" to "dig" to "hole or other product of digging", "excavation", then the ridge of earth created when excavating a ditch, then to a ridge of earth intended to prevent flooding.