Word.ws English Dictionary

dykes

/daɪks/

dykes is the plural of dyke.

Meaning of dyke

Noun

dyke (plural dykes)

  1. (UK) An earthwork raised to prevent inundation of low land by the sea or flooding rivers.
    • The king of Texcuco advised the building of a great dike, so thick and strong as to keep out the water.1891, Susan Hale, The Story of Nations: Mexico, page 100
  2. (Scotland, UK) A low embankment or stone wall serving as an enclosure and boundary marker.
    • The Galloway Dyke / In southwest Scotland there is a local style of dry stone dyke that is now recognized as 'the Galloway dyke', although when this pattern of ^([sic]) was first developed, it was simply described as 'the sheep dyke'.'2023 February 21, Nick Aitken, Dry Stone Walling - Materials and Techniques, The Crowood Press, →ISBN
  3. (UK) A raised causeway.
  4. (UK, historical) A long, narrow hollow dug from the ground to conduct water.
  5. (UK, dialectal) Any navigable watercourse.
  6. (UK, dialectal) Any watercourse.

See all 31 meanings of dyke

Noun

dykes pl (plural only)

  1. (plural, plural-only) Diagonal cutting pliers; diagonal pliers; diagonal cutters; wire cutters.
    • If you use undersized dykes to cut large wire, you can damage or break them.2008, John Hechtman, Audio Wiring Guide: How to Wire the Most Popular Audio and Video Connectors, page 15
    • For cutting lead came, you’ll need ‘lead came dykes,’ which are simple nippers designed to avoid crushing the lead.2022, Neile Cooper, Kicking Glass: A Creative Guide to Stained Glass Craft, page 40

Proper noun capitalized: Dykes

Dykes (plural Dykeses)

  1. A surname.

Forms of dykes

Noun
alternative formdikes
Proper noun
pluralDykeses

Origin of dykes

See dyke.

Likely a blend of diagonal + cut, with influence from dyke and dike.

Phrases with dykes

Words that rhyme with dykes

Questions about dykes

What does dykes mean?
Dykes means diagonal cutting pliers; diagonal pliers; diagonal cutters; wire cutters.
What is dykes the plural of?
Dykes is the plural of dyke.
What part of speech is dykes?
Dykes can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce dykes?
Dykes is pronounced /daɪks/.

Words near dykes in the dictionary

  1. Dykemas
  2. dykephobia
  3. dyker
  4. dykers
  5. dykery
  6. dykes
  7. dykes out
  8. dykes up
  9. Dykeses
  10. dykey
  11. Dykhouse

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dykes (page history and authors); Dykes (page history and authors); dyke (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “dykes.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dykes. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.