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Bike
Definitions
- 1 Clipping of bicycle. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
"It's called a gravel bike, and seems to combine the advantages of both road and mountain bikes – with a similar ability to lap up the miles on tarmac as a road bike, while still being very capable off-road."
- 2 A hive of bees, or a nest of wasps, hornets, or ants. Northern-England, Scotland, informal
"like blue bottle flees in a blink of sunshine, […]A bonny bike there’s o’ them!"
- 3 a wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals wordnet
- 4 Clipping of motorbike. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
- 5 A crowd of people. Scotland, broadly, collective, informal
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- 6 a motor vehicle with two wheels and a strong frame wordnet
- 7 Any vehicle sharing some characteristics with a bicycle or motorbike, such as pedal power, a handlebar, or a saddle.
"He warmed up the engine; the bike hovered off the ground despite his weight and the extra equipment."
- 8 Ellipsis of village bike. abbreviation, alt-of, derogatory, ellipsis, slang
- 1 To ride a bike. informal, intransitive
"I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today."
- 2 ride a bicycle wordnet
- 3 To travel by bike. informal, intransitive
"It was such a nice day I decided to bike to the store, though it's far enough I usually take my car."
- 4 To transport by bicycle. informal, transitive
"I biked them the letters."
Etymology
Clipping of bicycle. First attested in 1882. One explanation for the form with /k/ is that bicycle was parsed to bi(cy)c(le). An alternative explanation is that it was parsed to bic(ycle) but since speakers are aware of a general /k/~/s/ alternation (as in electric ~ electricity etc.), the softened /s/ was restored to a default /k/ when the “ending” -ycle was dropped. A similar case is merc /mɜɹk/ for mercenary. It seems unlikely, however, that this process is purely phonological and not at least partially based on the spelling ⟨c⟩.
Clipping of bicycle. First attested in 1882. One explanation for the form with /k/ is that bicycle was parsed to bi(cy)c(le). An alternative explanation is that it was parsed to bic(ycle) but since speakers are aware of a general /k/~/s/ alternation (as in electric ~ electricity etc.), the softened /s/ was restored to a default /k/ when the “ending” -ycle was dropped. A similar case is merc /mɜɹk/ for mercenary. It seems unlikely, however, that this process is purely phonological and not at least partially based on the spelling ⟨c⟩.
From Middle English bike, byke (“a nest of wild bees or wasps; also, honeycomb”), of unknown origin. Perhaps a back-formation of Middle English *bykere (“beekeeper”), from Old English bēocere (“beekeeper”); or from Old English *bȳc, a byform of Old English būc (“belly; vessel; container”). Compare also Scots byke (“beehive, anthill; home, dwelling”), Old Norse bý (“bee”).
See also for "bike"
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Unscramble this word: bike