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hike (hīk)
Share:
v. hiked, hik·ing, hikes
v.intr.
1. To go on an extended walk for pleasure or exercise, especially in a natural setting.
2. To rise, especially to rise upward out of place: My coat had hiked up in the back.
v.tr.
1. To travel over on foot for pleasure or exercise: hiked the Appalachian Trail.
2. To increase or raise in amount, especially abruptly: shopkeepers who hiked their prices for the tourist trade.
3. To pull or raise with a sudden motion; hitch: hiked myself onto the stone wall; hiked up her knee socks.
4. Football To snap (the ball).
n.
1. A long walk or march: went for a hike to the lake.
2. An often abrupt increase or rise: a price hike.
3. Football See snap.
Phrasal Verb:
hike out Nautical
To sit and lean backward or be suspended beyond the high side of a heeling sailboat in order to counterbalance the heel.
Idiom:
take a hike Slang
To leave because one's presence is unwanted. Often used in the imperative.

[Origin unknown.]

hiker n.
(click for a larger image)
hike
hiking out

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.