bicycle

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English

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A bicycle

Etymology

Borrowed from French bicycle (modern bicyclette), from bi- (“bi-”) + cycle (“cycle”). First attested in English in 1868, and in French in 1847.

(promiscuous woman): From double meaning of ride ("to transport oneself upon" vs. "to mount someone to have sex with them"). A communal bicycle would have many riders.

Pronunciation

Noun

bicycle (plural bicycles)

  2. (cycling) A vehicle that has two wheels, one behind the other, a steering handle, and a saddle seat or seats and is usually propelled by the action of a rider’s feet upon pedals.
    Synonyms: (clipping) bike, pushbike, (historical) velocipede; see also Thesaurus:bicycle
    Hypernym: cycle
    • 1882, “Principle in Small Things”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume 22, page 274:
      In most English villages, as we are informed, bicycles are not allowed on the sidewalks; and the hand-books issued by English manufacturers of bicycles caution their customers that it is a forbidden practice, while in many places bells have to be attached to the bicycles even when ridden in the streets.
  3. A traveling block used on a cable in skidding logs.
  4. The best possible hand in lowball.
  5. (British, Australia, New Zealand) A motorbike.
  6. (vulgar slang, usually in compounds specifying a context) A slut; a promiscuous woman.
    • 2002, Minette Walters, Fox Evil, Macmillan, pages 162–3:
      ‘What sort of bullying does this sergeant go in for?’ ‘Character assassination,’ she said in a matter-of-fact tone that belied the very real difficulties it was causing her. ‘There’s a lot of whispering about slags and tarts behind my back and sniggers whenever I appear. Half of the men seem to think I’m a dyke who needs curing, the other half think I’m the platoon bicycle. [...]’
  7. (climbing) A stabilizing technique in which one foot is pushed down while the other is pulled up.
  8. (poker slang) The wheel: either the lowest straight (A-2-3-4-5) or the best low hand in Lowball or High-low poker.

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

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Translations to be checked

Verb

bicycle (third-person singular simple present bicycles, present participle bicycling, simple past and past participle bicycled)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To travel or exercise using a bicycle.
  2. (television, historical, transitive) To physically ship (a recorded programme) to another broadcasting entity.
    • 2002, Roger Phillips Smith, The Other Face of Public Television, page 56:
      “Bicycling” defeated the possibility of topicality, a prime production habit of the network-trained production executives staffing the new entity.
    • 2014, Horace Newcomb, Encyclopedia of Television, page 177:
      In turn, two-inch tapes of these could be “bicycled” from one place to another across the country, thereby altering and improving production economies.

Translations

French

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

bicycle m (plural bicycles)

  1. bicycle
    Synonym: bicyclette

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading

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