[OE. dic, dike, diche, ditch, AS. dīc dike, ditch; akin to D. dijk dike, G. deich, and prob. teich pond, Icel. dīki dike, ditch, Dan. dige; perh. akin to Gr. tei^chos (for qei^chos) wall, and even E. dough; or perh. to Gr. ti^fos pool, marsh. Cf. Ditch.]

1. A ditch; a channel for water made by digging.

Little channels or dikes cut to every bed.

2. An embankment to prevent inundations; a levee.

Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised . . .
Shut out the turbulent tides.

3. A wall of turf or stone. [Scot.]

4. (Geol.) A wall-like mass of mineral matter, usually an intrusion of igneous rocks, filling up rents or fissures in the original strata.

Dike
v. t.

[imp. & p. p. Diked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Diking.]
[OE. diken, dichen, AS. dīcian to dike. See Dike.]

1. To surround or protect with a dike or dry bank; to secure with a bank.

2. To drain by a dike or ditch.

Dike
v. i.

To work as a ditcher; to dig. [Obs.]

He would thresh and thereto dike and delve.

Webster 1913 Dictionary edited by Patrick J. Cassidy