Dike (construction)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A dike (or dyke) is a earthen wall constructed as a defence or as a boundary. The best known form of dike is a construction built along the edge of a body of water to prevent it from flooding onto an adjacent lowland. Dikes can be mainly found along the sea, where dunes are not strong enough, along rivers for protection against high-floods, along lakes or along polders. Furthermore dikes have been build for the purpose of empoldering or as a boundary for an inundation area. The latter can be a controlled inundation by the military or a measure to prevent inundation of an larger area surrounded by dikes. Dikes have also been built as field boundaries and as military defences. More on this type of dike can be found in the article on dry-stone walls.
Dikes can be permanent earthworks or emergency constructions (often of sandbags) built hastily in a flood emergency.
The word dike originates from the Netherlands.
See also
An American English word for a dike is a Levee
