DIKE

dike. Dike, n. a ditch, channel, bank, mound, fence

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Dike (dī), 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. τει̑χοσ (for θει̑χοσ) wall, and even E. dough; or perh. to Gr. τι̑φοσ pool, marsh. Cf. Ditch.]] 1. 1. A ditch; a channel for water made by digging.
Little channels or dikes cut to every bed. Ray. 2. 2. An embankment to prevent inundations; a levee.
Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised . . . Shut out the turbulent tides. Longfellow. 3. 3. A wall of turf or stone.
4. 4. (Geol.) A wall-like mass of mineral matter, usually an intrusion of igneous rocks, filling up rents or fissures in the original strata.