dikast

See dicast. 1617 5. In geol., a fi ure in rocks filled with material which has found its way into it while melted, or when brought by some other means into a fluid or semi-fluid condition. Most dikes are, in fact, filled with lava or some form of eruptive rock. A dike differs from a vein in that the latter has been slowly filled by agencies either identical with or allied in character to those ordinarily IMG:content-2642.png:[merged small][ocr errors] rocks. IMG:content-2643.png:[ocr errors] Section showing dikes traversing stratified a, b, simple dikes; c, branching dike. designated by the term metamorphic, while the former has, in most cases at least, been rapidly filled, so that it consists e entially of the same material through from one side to the other, and at all depths. A mineral vein or lode, on the other hand, may differ very greatly in its contents in various parts, in width as well as in depth. dike (dik), v.; pret. and pp. diked, ppr. diking. [ mod. E. ditch, v.), dig, dig out, surround with a ditch, G. deichen, raise a dike or dam), He wolde thre he and therto dyke and delve. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. Т., 1. 536. It were better dike and delve, And stand upon the right faith, Than know all that the Bible saith, And erre, as some clerkes do. = Sw. dike, neut., a ditch, also a bank, dam, = Dan. dige, neut., a ditch, also a bank, dam; hence (from LG.) OF. dicque, digue, F. digue = Sp. Pg. dique = It. dig a, a bank, dam. The neut. forms have been compared with Gr. τείχος, & wall, rampart, τοῖχος, the wall of a house (for orig. *θείχος, *θοίχος, ult. connected with θιγγάνειν, touch, and L. fingere, form, fi gur a, a form: see figure, fictile, etc.); but the relation is improbable. The orig. sense of the neut. word is ditch, a channel dug out (cf. dig, ult. from this noun) (cf. also Gr. τίφος, a marsh, swamp), ditch being in fact an a ibilated form of the same word. The correlative sense of 'a bank' or 'a wall' is not usual in ME. and AS.; it is due in part to the usage of the Low Countries, where dikes in this sense are conspicuous and important.] 1. A channel for water made by digging; a ditch; a moat. See ditch. [Obsolete or archaic.] Al the thinges the in wer[1]de ben, Twen heuone hil and helle dik . Genesis and Exodus, 1. 281. Aboute the castel was a dyke . Richard Coer de Lion, 1. 6021. From one fountain in a garden there should be little channels or dykes cut to every bed, and every plant growing therein. Ray, Works of Creation, ii. Like a shoal Of darting fish, that on a summer morn Adown the crystal dykes at Camelot Come slipping o'er their shadows on the sand. Tennyson , Geraint. 2. A small pond or pool. [Prov. Eng.] -3. A ridge or bank of earth thrown up in excavating a canal or a ditch; specifically, such a ridge or bank thrown up to prevent low lands from being overflowed; a continuous dam confining or restraining the waters of a stream or of the sea: as, the Netherlands are defended from the sea by dikes. The injured nation [the Dutch), driven to despair, had opened its dikes , and had called in the sea as an ally against the French tyranny. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor ince ant, Shut out the turbulent tides. Long fellow, Evangeline, i. 1. 4. A low wall or fence of stone or turf, dividing or inclosing fields, etc. A dry dike is such a wall built without mortar. See fail dike. [North. Eng. and Scotch.] Ye've been wash'd in Dunny's well, And dried on Dunny's dyke . Sweet Willie and Fair Annie (Child's Ballads, II. 137). The hiest dyke that we come to, I'll turn and tak you up. He criede, and comaundede alle Cristyne people To delue and dike a deop diche al aboute Vnite, That holychurche stod in holyne e as hit were a pile. Piers Plowman (C), xxii. 365. IMG:content-2644.png:[blocks in formation]