bike
Plural: bikes
Noun
- a motor vehicle with two wheels and a strong frame
- a wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals
- Clipping of bicycle.
- Clipping of motorbike.
- Any vehicle sharing some characteristics with a bicycle or motorbike, such as pedal power, a handlebar, or a saddle.
- Ellipsis of village bike.
- A hive of bees, or a nest of wasps, hornets, or ants.
- A crowd of people.
Verb
Verb Forms: biked, biking, bikes
- To ride a bicycle.
- ride a bicycle
- To ride a bike.
- To travel by bike.
- To transport by bicycle.
Examples
- I biked so much yesterday that I'm very sore today.
- I biked them the letters.
- It was such a nice day I decided to bike to the store, though it's far enough I usually take my car.
- She decided to BIKE to the Words With Friends tournament, needing the exercise.
Origin / Etymology
From bicycle, by shortening, and possibly alteration. Attested from 1882.
One explanation for the pronunciation is that bicycle is parsed to bi(cy)c(le). An alternative explanation is that bicycle is shortened to bic(ycle), and the terminal [s] is converted to a [k] because there is an underlying underspecified [k]/[s] sound, which is softened to [s] in bicycle but retained as [k] in bike; compare the letter ‘c’ (used for [k]/[s]).
Scrabble Score: 10
bike: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbike: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
bike: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary