hike

From English dialectal hyke (“to walk vigorously”), probably a Northern form of hitch, from Middle English hytchen, hichen, icchen (“to move, jerk, stir”). Cognate with Scots hyke (“to move with a jerk”), dialectal German hicken (“to hobble, walk with a limp”), Danish hinke (“to hop”). More at hick.

• IPA^(key): /haɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪk

hike (plural hikes)

1. A long walk, usually for pleasure or exercise. [from c. 1900]
   • 1904, P.M. Silloway, “Extracts from Some Montana Note-books, 1904”, in Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club, volumes 1-6, Cooper Ornithological Club, page 149:

     Well, if it gave him so much pleasure to find the nest, he is welcome to the eggs. I can hunt another grass tuft, lay another set, and rear my brood in peace while he goes "hiking" after eggs at Flathead.

   • 1992, Allen Mitchell, California Parks Access: A Complete Guide to the State and National Parks for Visitors with Limited Mobility, page 179:

     From here, you can pick up the asphalt bike path and take a hike across the meadow.

   • 2002, Doug Gelbert, The 55 Best Places to Hike with Your Dog in the Philadelphia Region, page 98:

     The hike along the trolley line from Smedley to Thompson Park is a wild and wooly excursion that brings you across train tracks, through dry creek beds, past ferns and wild roses and more.

   • 2015, Bubba Suess, Hiking California's Wine Country: A Guide to the Area's Greatest Hikes, page 166:

     The hike through the city of Napa's Alston Park is a great introduction to the Napa Valley.

   • 2019, Joe Baur, Best Hikes Cleveland: The Greatest Views, Wildlife, and Forest Strolls, page 75:

     You'll run into Powers Road and will hike on the sidewalks of Bedford across some train tracks and onto Broadway Avenue.

2. An abrupt increase.

   Antonyms: cut (used in same context), decrease

   The tenants were not happy with the rent hike.

   • 2021 October 20, “Network News: How do operators buy electricity?”, in RAIL, number 942, page 7:

     Those who are part of the consortium are protected from the current energy price hikes because they were tied into a fixed rate deal set almost a year ago (and continuing into most of next year).

   • 2022 June 15, Dominic Rushe, “Federal Reserve announces biggest interest rate hike since 1994”, in The Guardian‎:

     With soaring inflation and the shadow of recession hanging over the United States, the Federal Reserve announced a 0.75 percentage-point increase in interest rates on Wednesday – the largest hike since 1994.

3. (American football) The snap of the ball to start a play.
4. A sharp upward tug to raise something.
   • 2016, Erik Schubach, The Hollow:

     She gave a cute hike of her skirt as she spun and almost sauntered down the stairs.

hike (third-person singular simple present hikes, present participle hiking, simple past and past participle hiked)

1. To take a long walk for pleasure or exercise.

   Don't forget to bring the map when we go hiking tomorrow.

2. To unfairly or suddenly raise a price.
3. (American football) To snap the ball to start a play.
4. (nautical) To lean out to the windward side of a sailboat in order to counterbalance the effects of the wind on the sails.
5. To pull up or tug upwards sharply.

   She hiked her skirt up.

• (to take a long walk): tramp
• (to lean to the windward side): lean out, sit out

hike

1. Let's go; get moving. A command to a dog sled team, given by a musher.

• hitchhike
• hitchhiker
• take a hike

• “hike”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “hike”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Borrowed from Latin hīc.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhikɛ/

hike

1. here, in this place

hike (present tense hiker, past tense hika or hiket, past participle hika or hiket)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by hige

After Danish hige.

hike (present tense hikar, past tense hika, past participle hika, passive infinitive hikast, present participle hikande, imperative hike/hik)

1. to yearn

• hige (Bokmål)

• “hike” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.