Dike

Dyke, (dik.) [A. S. dic.] Generally, an embankment of rubble, earth, and the like, constructed to protect low-lying lands from inundations of the sea, rivers, .:- principal of the kind are the dikes or dunes of Holland and Flanders.- (Geol.) The name given to sheets of igneous rock, which have usually a vertical or oblique position. They have originated from the filling up of a fi ure by molten rock. When the rocks at each side have disappeared through denudation, the dike is seen to stand out like a wall; whence its name. [s. 287]