hike

English

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪk

Noun

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.

   • 1976 December 25, Alan Bowne, “Lesbians Rising Makes an Impact at Hunter”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 26, page 10:

     It was on this campus last winter that gay people stood in the vanguard of protests against a tuition hike proposed and passed during the city's fiscal crisis.

   • 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^[1]:

     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.

Derived terms

• tax hike

 

Translations

a long walk

• Armenian: արշավ (hy) (aršav)
• Belarusian: пахо́д m (paxód), экску́рсія f (ekskúrsija)
• Bulgarian: поход (bg) m (pohod), екскурзия (bg) f (ekskurzija)
• Catalan: caminada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 行山 (haang⁴ saan¹) (hike up a mountain)

  Mandarin: 遠足／远足 (zh) (yuǎnzú)

• Dutch: wandeling (nl)
• Estonian: matk
• Finnish: patikkaretki (fi), vaellus (fi)
• French: randonnée (fr) f
• Galician: andaina (gl) f, camiñada f
• German: Wanderung (de) f
• Italian: camminata (it), passeggiata (it), escursione (it) f
• Japanese: 散策 (ja) (さんさく, sansaku), ハイキング (ja) (haikingu), 遠足 (ja) (えんそく, ensoku), ハイク (ja) (haiku)
• Korean: 등산 (ko) (deungsan), 하이킹 (haiking), 산책 (ko) (sanchaek)
• Lithuanian: žygis m
• Norwegian: vandring f

  Bokmål: fottur m

  Nynorsk: fottur m

• Occitan: escorreguda (oc) f, caminada (oc) f, excursion (oc) f, passejada (oc) f
• Persian: کوهنوردی (fa)
• Polish: wędrówka (pl) f, piesza wycieczka f
• Portuguese: caminhada (pt) f, passeio (pt) m, excursão (pt)
• Russian: похо́д (ru) m (poxód), экску́рсия (ru) f (ekskúrsija), (дли́тельная) прогу́лка (ru) f (progúlka)
• Serbo-Croatian: planinarenje n
• Spanish: caminata (es) f
• Swedish: vandring (sv)
• Ukrainian: похі́д m (poxíd), екску́рсія f (ekskúrsija)
• Vietnamese: cuộc đi bộ đường dài

an abrupt increase

• Bulgarian: повишение (bg) n (povišenie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 猛漲／猛涨 (zh) (měngzhǎng), 激增 (zh) (jīzēng)

• Dutch: plotse stijging
• Finnish: nousu (fi), korotus (fi)
• French: hausse (fr) f, augmentation (fr) f
• Italian: impennata (it) f, balzo (it) m, aumento (it) m
• Japanese: (anything) 急上昇 (ja) (きゅうじょうしょう, kyūjōshō), (prices) 急騰 (ja) (きゅうとう, kyūtō)
• Russian: (ре́зкое) повыше́ние (ru) n (povyšénije), (ре́зкий) подъём (ru) m (podʺjóm)
• Spanish: suba (es) f, aumento (es) m
• Swedish: stegring (sv) c, höjning (sv) c

the snap of the ball to start a play

• German: Snap (de) m

a command to a dog sled team

Verb

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.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• hike out
• hiker
• hike the Appalachian Trail
• hike up
• hiking
• hitch-hike
• outhike
• thru-hike

 

Translations

to take a long walk for pleasure or exercise

• Catalan: fer senderisme, fer caminada, caminar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 遠足／远足 (zh) (yuǎnzú)

• Dutch: wandelen (nl)
• Estonian: matkama
• Finnish: retkeillä (fi), patikoida (fi)
• French: partir en randonnée, randonner (fr)
• German: wandern (de)
• Hungarian: túrázik (hu)
• Italian: fare un'escursione, camminare (it)
• Japanese: 散策する (ja) (sansaku suru), ハイキングする (ja) (haikingu suru)
• Korean: 등산하다 (ko) (deungsanhada), 산책하다 (ko) (sanchaekhada)
• Lithuanian: žygėti
• Maori: haere pakituri, hīkoi
• Polish: wędrować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: fazer/dar uma caminhada, andarilhar, caminar
• Russian: броди́ть (ru) (brodítʹ), путеше́ствовать (ru) (putešéstvovatʹ), гуля́ть (ru) (guljátʹ)
• Spanish: caminar (es)
• Swedish: vandra (sv)
• Vietnamese: đi bộ đường dài

to unfairly or suddenly raise a price

• Japanese: (anything) 急上昇する (ja) (kyūjōshō suru), (prices) 急騰する (ja) (kyūtō suru)
• Russian: задрать цену pf (zadratʹ cenu)

to snap the ball to start a play

nautical: to lean out to the windward side of a sailboat

Interjection

hike

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

See also

• hitchhike
• hitchhiker
• take a hike

References

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

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin hīc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhikɛ/

Adverb

hike

1. here, in this place

Derived terms

• ad exter hike (“out of here! away with you!”)
• for hike (“far distant from here”)
• hika, hikala (“here, this”)
• hike apude (“near here”)
• hike interne (“here within”)
• hike ube (“here where”)
• til hike (“(un)to here”)
• tra hike (“through here, this way”)
• venez adhike (“come here, hither”)

 

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

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

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

After Danish hige.

Verb

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

1. to yearn

See also

• hige (Bokmål)

References

• “hike” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.