Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A vehicle consisting of a light frame mounted on two wire-spoked wheels one behind the other and having a seat, handlebars for steering, brakes, and two pedals or a small motor by which it is driven.
- n. An exercise bicycle.
- v. To ride or travel on a bicycle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A modification of the two-wheeled velocipede (which see). The velocipede of 1869 was worked by treadles operating cranks on the axle of the front wheel. This was modified by greatly increasing the relative size of the driving-wheel and bringing the rider directly over it. Later the “safety” bicycle was introduced, in which the wheels were made of more nearly equal size, and for the direct action upon the front wheel was substituted indirect action upon the rear wheel, by means of a chain and sprocket-wheels, the diameters of the sprocket-wheels being so proportioned as to compensate the decrease in size of the driving-wheel.
- To ride on a bicycle.
- n. A traveling block used on a cable in steam-skidding.
Wiktionary
- n. 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.
- n. A traveling block used on a cable in skidding logs.
- n. The best possible hand in lowball.
- v. To travel or exercise using a bicycle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A light vehicle having two wheels one behind the other. It has a saddle seat and is propelled by the rider's feet acting on cranks or levers.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a wheeled vehicle that has two wheels and is moved by foot pedals
- v. ride a bicycle
Etymologies
- From bi- (“two”) + Ancient Greek κύκλος (kuklos, "circle, wheel"), on the pattern of tricycle. (The English word is sometimes said to derive from French, but this is probably incorrect; French sources say the French word derives from English.) (Wiktionary)
- Probably bi-1 + -cycle (on the model of tricycle, three-wheeled coach). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“That said, she steps over to the railing where her own bike, as in bicycle, is securely chained and waiting.”
“Eventually, bicyclette replaced the French word bicycle.”
“Riding your bicycle is a totally Freeing Experience:”
“The fact that a unicycle lacks certain components of a bicycle does not mean that the bicycle is therefore not irreducibly complex.”
“Today's Video: Astronaut Mike Gernhardt: Flying a submersible - just like riding a bicycle is the next entry in this blog.”
“If you live and work in a town of 100,000 or more, a bicycle is as fast as a car and parking is a nightmare.”
“Attached to the back of his bicycle is a cart with a steaming pot of tamales.”
“The history of the bicycle is a bit fuzzy, but historians generally agree that the modern bicycle was invented in the 1860s in France. 3 So when da Vinci was sketching this futuristic idea, the very words that we use to describe the modern bike - not only the word bicycle but pedals, brakes, crank drive, etc. - did not exist.”
“I would also like to pointed out that "build more roads" and "everyone rides bicycle" is a false duality and that dense walkable communities with efficient mass transit are much more responsible than endless sprawl. ivan”
“Are you sure the “cyclist” did not steal the bicycle from the stone thrower?”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bicycle’.
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50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
walking, bicycle, bus, train, motorcycle, airplane, car, truck, segway, limousine, roller coaster, wheelbarrow and 130 more...
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SPOR - Olympic glossary
hurdle, tempo, consortium, caption, mutual understanding, jury, radio, javelin, extra time, boxing, Lander, European and 521 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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Pickle and such
Words that end like pickle. Listed here because they're funny (because they end like pickle).
pickle, sparkle, yokel, tinkle, fickle, prickle, trickle, circle, snorkel, ensnorkel, chuckle, buckle and 137 more...
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CycList
Anything related to cycling; no motorcycling, please.
frame, pedal, crank arm, top tube, down tube, seat tube, seat stay, chain stay, saddle, fork, hub, rim and 97 more...
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Playthings and Toys
have fun!
battledore, beanbag, bicycle, Big Wheel, crayons, boomerang, cap gun, doll, kite, jigsaw puzzle, hula hoop, jack-in-the-box and 66 more...
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everything
everythin?
a, i, aardvark, abdominals, any, anti-, ash, actuall, actually, add, abs, ass and 43 more...
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•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with ...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 79 more...
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Things that smell better than they taste
See also Things that taste better than they smell.
coffee, gasoline, shampoo, petrol, paint, cut grass, baby, hair, mudflats, bicycle, coal, naphtha and 36 more...
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bi-
two; twice; every two; lasting two
biathlon, biannual, bicentennial, biennial, bisexual, binoculars, bigamy, biscotti, bilabial, bicep, bicuspid, bicycle and 19 more...
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transportation
change, car, vehicle, cart, baggage, waiting room, ticket, bicycle, life jacket, railway, shared taxi, ferry and 27 more...
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• Bilinguology (with both Latin and G...
English (dictionary*) words with both Latin and Greek components.
"Bilinguology" is not one of those words.
*I love madeupical word, but this list is adopted from angharad and I ...mammalogy, neonatology, television, bicycle, polyamory, actuopalynology, puberphonia, petrophile, anodyspareunia, monolingual, apiology, pulmonologist and 1 more...
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Test words
vacation, tourist, tourist office, travel, read, newspaper, book, magazine, television, music, radio, nightclub and 68 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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ttobba's Words
graph, amore, labrador, sun, boreal, norsk, coffee, cafe, pekin, peking, train, rail and 97 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bicycle.
john “Tennis is known as a gentleman’s game and serving up bagels, or bicycles, as a 6-0, 6-0 set is called in Switzerland, was once viewed as bad sportsmanship.”
The New York Times, Shut Out at Age 10, Federer Never Lost That Way Again, by Dave Seminara, May 21, 2010 May 22, 2010
reesetee "When the police subsequently raided the Bicycle Clinic, the Fire Department at first blocked them from entering for safety reasons. The building was so crammed with bicycles and bike parts that a Fire Department rescue squad had to remove the upper-floor windows and lower the bicycles by rope.
That was just the beginning. An additional 200 bikes were seized in Mr. Kenk’s home. Ten landlords around the city reported that their garages had been rented by Mr. Kenk and were bulging with bicycles. As the police gathered the mounds of bikes, they also found cocaine, crack cocaine, about 15 pounds of marijuana and a stolen bronze sculpture of a centaur and a snake in battle."
-- "In a Cyclist-Friendly City, a Black Hole for Bikes," New York Times online, 8/21/08 Aug 22, 2008
rolig This everyday word always makes me have to think how to spell it! And I'm a good speller. But everytime I write it, or type it, I am tempted to spell it "bycicle". I have to dissect it as bi+cycle. It's an unusual case where "y" is pronounced as a short "i" (ih). May 5, 2008