Dyke or dike may refer to:

General uses

Dyke (slang) ''Dyke'' is a slang term, used as a noun meaning lesbian. It originated as a Homophobia, homophobic Pejorative, slur for masculine, butch (lesbian slang), butch, or Androgyny, androgynous girls or women. Pejorative use of the word still exist ...

, a slang word meaning "lesbian" *

Dike (geology) In geology, a dike or dyke is a sheet of rock that is formed in a fracture of a pre-existing rock body. Dikes can be either magmatic or sedimentary in origin. Magmatic dikes form when magma flows into a crack then solidifies as a sheet intrusi ...

, formations of magma or sediment that cut through and across the layering of adjacent rocks *

Dike (mythology) In Greek mythology, Dike or Dice, ( or ; ) sometimes also called Dicaeosyne (), is the goddess of justice and the spirit of moral order and fair judgement as a transcendent universal ideal or based on immemorial custom, in the sense of socially ...

, ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes,

diagonal pliers Diagonal pliers (also known as wire cutters or diagonal cutting pliers, or under many regional names) are pliers intended for the cutting of wire or small stock, rather than grabbing or turning. The plane defined by the cutting edges of the ja ...

, also called side-cutting pliers, a hand tool used by electricians and others * Dyke (automobile company), established 1899

Structures

Dyke (embankment) A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural or artificial, alongside the banks of a river, often intended to protect against fl ...

or dike, a natural or artificial slope or wall to regulate water levels, often called a levee in American English *

Ditch A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...

, a water-filled drainage trench * A regional term for a

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully ...

wall

People

Dyke (surname) Dyke is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Edwin Dyke (1842–1919), English clergyman and cricketer * Greg Dyke (born 1947), former Director General of the BBC and current Chairman of Brentford Football Club * John Dyke (rugby ...

Dyke baronets The Dyke Baronetcy, of Horeham in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 3 March 1677 for Sir Thomas Dyke, 1st Baronet, Thomas Dyke, Commissioner of Public Accounts and Member of Parliament for Sussex (UK ...

, a title in the Baronetage of England *

Dykes (surname) Dykes is a British surname which is thought to originate from the hamlet of Dykesfield in Burgh-by-Sands, Cumbria in the north of England. Due to its close proximity to the English and Scottish borders, the surname Dykes has also been found in Sc ...

, a British surname found particularly in northern England

Places

Settlements

Dike, Iowa Dike is a city in Grundy County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,304 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an increase of 38% over the total of 944 residents in 2000. It is part of the Waterloo, Iowa, Waterloo–Cedar Falls, Io ...

, United States *

Dykes, Missouri Dykes is an unincorporated community in southwest Texas County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. Dykes is located on Missouri Route 38, seven miles west of Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous c ...

, United States *

Dyke, Moray Dyke () is a small village situated in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately 4 miles west of Forres. The origin of the name of the parish of Dyke is supposed to be the Gaelic word ''dìg'', signifying a water drain or ditch. D ...

, Scotland * Dike, Texas, United States * Dyke, Virginia, United States *

Dyke, Lincolnshire Dyke is a village in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated less than east from the A15 road (England), and approximately 1 mile north-east from Bourne. Dyke is within Bourne civil parish. The name Dyke arises f ...

, England *

Little Dyke, Nova Scotia Little Dyke is an unincorporated community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provi ...

, Canada

Earthworks

Car Dyke The Car Dyke was, and to a large extent still is, a long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England for a distance of over . It is generally accepted as being a Roman invasion of Britain, Roman construction and was, f ...

, a Roman boundary ditch in Eastern England *

Devil's Dyke (disambiguation) Devil's Dyke may refer to: * Devil's Dykes, a series of Roman fortifications between Hungary and Serbia * Devil's Dyke, Cambridgeshire, an earthen barrier in eastern Cambridgeshire * Devil's Dyke, Hertfordshire, a prehistoric defensive ditch in He ...

, one of several ancient embankments or ditches (or both) *

Foss Dyke The Foss Dyke, or Fossdyke, connects the River Trent at Torksey to Lincoln, the county town of Lincolnshire, and may be the oldest canal in England that is still in use. It is usually thought to have been built around AD 120 by the Roma ...

, a Roman canal in England linking the River Trent to the River Witham at Lincoln *

Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke () is a large linear Earthworks (Archaeology), earthwork that roughly follows the England–Wales border, border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa of Mercia, Offa, the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon king of Mer ...

, historic earthwork dividing Mercia and Wales *

Wansdyke (earthwork) Wansdyke (from ''Woden's Dyke'') is a series of early medieval defensive linear earthworks in the West Country of England, consisting of a ditch and a running embankment from the ditch spoil, with the ditching facing north. There are two main ...

, dividing Wessex from the lands south west of it *

Wat's Dyke Wat's Dyke () is a linear earthwork running through the northern Welsh Marches from Basingwerk Abbey on the River Dee estuary, passing east of Oswestry and on to Maesbury in Shropshire, England. It runs generally parallel to Offa's Dyke, s ...

, An earthwork running through the northern Welsh Marches from Basingwerk Abbey to Maesbury

Geological features

* The

Great Dyke The Great Dyke or Dike is a linear geological feature that trends nearly north-south through the centre of Zimbabwe passing just to the west of the capital, Harare. It consists of a band of short, narrow ridges and hills spanning for approximate ...

, a mineral-rich feature that runs through Zimbabwe *

Mount Desire Dyke Mount Desire Dyke is designated place of geological significance. It is located north-east of Hawker in South Australia, on the edge of the Flinders Ranges. The dyke (or dike) is a rock structure where mobile material, being a breccia of rock s ...

, an igneous intrusion in South Australia