dik

n. [ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Little channels or dikes cut to every bed. Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An embankment to prevent inundations; a levee. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised . . .
Shut out the turbulent tides. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A wall of turf or stone. [ Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Geol.) A wall-like mass of mineral matter, usually an intrusion of igneous rocks, filling up rents or fissures in the original strata. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To drain by a dike or ditch. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To work as a ditcher; to dig. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He would thresh and thereto dike and delve. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]