1. [n]  a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea
2. [n]  offensive terms for a lesbian who is noticeably masculine
3. [v]  enclose with a dike; "dike the land to protect it from water"

1. \Dike\, n. [OE. dic, dike, diche, ditch, AS. d?c dike,
   ditch; akin to D. dijk dike, G. deich, and prob. teich pond,
   Icel. d?ki dike, ditch, Dan. dige; perh. akin to Gr. ? (for
   ?) wall, and even E. dough; or perh. to Gr. ? pool, marsh.
   Cf. {Ditch}.]
   1. A ditch; a channel for water made by digging.
            Little channels or dikes cut to every bed. --Ray.
   2. An embankment to prevent inundations; a levee.
            Dikes that the hands of the farmers had raised . . .
            Shut out the turbulent tides.         --Longfellow.
   3. A wall of turf or stone. [Scot.]
   4. (Geol.) A wall-like mass of mineral matter, usually an
      intrusion of igneous rocks, filling up rents or fissures
      in the original strata.
   

2. \Dike\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Diked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Diking}.] [OE. diken, dichen, AS. d[=i]cian to dike. See
   {Dike}.]
   1. To surround or protect with a dike or dry bank; to secure
      with a bank.
   2. To drain by a dike or ditch.
   

3. \Dike\, v. i.
   To work as a ditcher; to dig. [Obs.]
         He would thresh and thereto dike and delve. --Chaucer.
   

To remove or disable a portion of something, as a wire from a computer or a subroutine from a program. A standard slogan is "When in doubt, dike it out". (The implication is that it is usually more effective to attack software problems by reducing complexity than by increasing it.) The word "dikes" is widely used among mechanics and engineers to mean "diagonal cutters", especially the heavy-duty metal-cutting version, but may also refer to a kind of wire-cutters used by electronics technicians. To "dike something out" means to use such cutters to remove something. Indeed, the TMRC Dictionary defined dike as "to attack with dikes". Among hackers this term has been metaphorically extended to informational objects such as sections of code.

[Jargon File]

1. An embankment (usually of earth) constructed to keep water in or out of a given area.
2. 1. An embankment outside a channel to restrict overflow.
   2. A levee.