▪ I. hike, v. colloq. orig. dial. and U.S.
(haɪk)
Also † hyke, heik.
[Of obscure origin. Cf. hoick v.1
A possible early example of this word may be seen in the following: 1736 Applebee's Weekly-Jrnl. 17 July 2/1 Gowing..stood Centry 'till the Cargo amounted to as much as they could conveniently yike off with.]
1. intr. a. To walk or march vigorously or laboriously. b. To walk for pleasure; to go for a long walk, or walking tour, spec. in the country. Also, to travel by any means.
| 1809 S. Wesley Lett. (1875) 32 Adieu for the present,—we must Contrive one more Pull at Surry before I hyke over to Staffordshire. 1825 J. Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng., To hike off, to go away; to go off. Used generally in a bad sense. 1868 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 39 This day we moved over to the Thebes side and were to have done Karnak..but..I was really sick with heiking. a 1872 J. M. Bailey Folks at Danbury (1877) 55 You've got to hike aroun', and fling some style inter the victuals. 1884 Daily Tel. 2 Feb. 3/1 (Farmer), We three, not having any regler homes..hike about for a living. 1886 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 157 You see the Churches can't do much, but Mr. Warner is wild to be heiking about. a 1902 Scribner's Mag. (Webster 1902), It's hike, hike, hike (march) till you stick in the mud, and then you hike back again a little slower than you went. 1904 Chicago Evening Post 23 Aug. 7 These girls had hiked up the dizzy trail along the face of Glacier to the summit. 1910 S. E. White Rules of Game iii. xii, ‘I'm going to hike out before breakfast,’ said he before turning in, ‘so if you'll just show me where the lantern is, I won't bother you in the morning.’ Ibid. v. viii, No animal in its senses would hike uphill and then down again. 1920 Contemp. Rev. Sept. 341 To take stick and pack, and ‘hike’ away from these cities for hundreds or thousands of miles. 1926 Glasgow Herald 25 Aug. 8 Guides in gay girlhood will hike through the hollow. 1927 A. Conan Doyle Case-bk. S. Holmes 149, I told him I was a busy man and could not spend my life hiking round the world in search of Garridebs. 1936 F. Clune Roaming round Darling xi. 101 Upon returning to Sydney I hiked out to Watson's Bay. 1937 Amer. Speech XII. 162/1 High school students have used hike to mean going to a play spot, either by automobile, by hayrack, or on foot. 1971 Sci. Amer. June 16/3, I occasionally take time off to hike in the mountains and ski. |
2. trans. a. To force to move or go; to convey forcibly or laboriously; to pull on, up, over, etc.; to ‘drag out’; to increase (a price, etc.). Also fig.
| 1867 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 32 Our side-saddles were heiked on to them. 1869 Punch 9 Jan. 8/2 If they finds any sitch thing as a jemmy about yer,..they'll hike yer off to be tried for intendin' to commit a felony. 1870 F. P. Verney Lettice Lisle xxiii, I'd like to hike out the whole boiling o' um. 1886 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 163 Tuesday he heiked us all forth early in the morning to the lake. 1899 Strand Mag. Apr. 454/1 We'll join hands end lay ourselves flat on the rock so thet you can hike your head over, and look all you want to. 1904 Topeka Capital 10 June 4 City Center kept the price of ice cream sodas at five cents until the State Sunday School convention struck town, and then the scale was hiked to ten cents. 1915 T. Burke Nights in Town 119 Two bare⁓armed ladies, with skirts hiked up most indelicately behind them. 1921 Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 835/2, I hiked him into a taxicab. 1927 Blackw. Mag. July 11/1 We flitted across the road like ghosts in the moonlight, hiking our equipage, and deposited same at the door of a wooden inn. 1929 W. P. Ridge Affect. Regards 117 Saw where I was paying attention..and then barged in... And apparently managed to hike me out! 1969 C. Irving Fake! (1970) xii. 147 To provide a testimonial which..was also so classy that it hiked the price to its limit, they hit on a scheme. 1973 Observer 22 July 13/1 The Bank of England hiked its minimum lending rate..to 9 per cent. |
| absol. a 1902 Kipling (Webster 1902), If you persist in heaving and hiking like this. |
b. intr. To work upwards out of place. Const. up.
| c 1873 Schele de Vere MS. Notes 488 (D.A.E.), What makes y[ou]r dress hike up so? 1890 Amer. Dialect Notes I. 61 The curtain hikes or hikes up. 1902 G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant ix. 119 We boys who couldn't walk across the floor without feeling that our pants had hiked up till they showed our feet to the knee,..didn't like him. 1948 Sat. Even. Post 4 Dec. 127/2 When I sit down, it hikes up. |
Hence hiker (ˈhaɪkə(r)), one who hikes or goes on a hike; ˈhiking vbl. n. (also attrib.).
| 1901 Princeton Alumni Weekly 518/1 Here I got my first chance at ‘hiking’ in the Philippines. 1913 F. H. Harris Dartmouth out o' Doors 32 While building strong physiques for themselves, the cross-country ‘hikers’ are providing for happier possibilities for the generations to come. 1923 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Spring & Summer 51 New styles for misses, including the hiking suit and costume skirt. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 20 July 18/4 Women's Tweed Hiking Breeches..of good grade materials, smart fawn and grey mixtures; well tailored and buttoned at the knee. 1927 Daily Express 24 May 3/5 We [of the Camping Club] have 3,000 members... Most of these are solitary ‘hikers’, who carry all their kit with them. 1930 Times Lit. Suppl. 11 Sept. 710/4 A special kind of traveller, belonging to the class of ‘hikers’. 1931 Daily Tel. 21 Jan. 8/6 ‘Hikers'’ Hostels at 1s. a Night. 1931 Times Lit. Suppl. 7 May 368/1 The sturdy young ‘heroes’ who accompanied him on the hiking adventures. 1931 Daily Tel. 21 May 16/2 The widespread hiking movement in Germany and other Continental countries. 1959 M. Shadbolt New Zealanders 71 He was used to hiking. 1972 L. L. Bean, Inc. Catal. (Freeport, Maine) Spring 8 Sierra club cup for hikers and campers. 1972 Sci. Amer. July 13/1, I enjoy cross-country skiing in the winter and hiking and bicycling the rest of the year. |
▪ II. hike, n. colloq. orig. dial. and U.S.
(haɪk)
Also † heik.
[f. prec.]
1. A vigorous or laborious walk; a tramp or march; a walking tour or expedition undertaken for exercise or pleasure. Also fig. on hike, on the tramp, hiking.
| 1865 S. Hale Lett. (1919) 15 I've been engaged this week in a pecunious heik; to wit, getting money from the ladies of the Parish to get a new gown for Dr. Hedge. 1868 Ibid. 45, I ascended the Grand Pyramid, Lucretia got half-way..and Susie didn't try. It is a fearful heik. a 1902 Scribner's Mag. (Webster 1902), With every hike there's a few laid out with their hands crossed. 1903 S. E. White Forest ii. 18 All other utensils belong to permanent camps, or open-water cruises,—not to ‘hikes’ in the woods. 1907 R. W. Service Songs of Sourdough (1908) 59 And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee. Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so. 1907 R. Beach Barrier (1908) iv. 53 He's the feller that killed the gold-commissioner. Of course that put him on the hike again. 1916 H. L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap ix. 369 What's the matter with him and Lon taking a swift hike down to New York? 1921 Outward Bound June 10/1 Chinese Boy Scouts..on ‘hike’ on the veldt of South Africa. 1921 Blackw. Mag. Aug. 262/1 Dempsey had passed the afternoon in a ‘limbering-up hike’. 1932 News Chron. 28 Apr. 1/2 He then began a non-stop hike up and down the corridors of the hospital that had lasted till late this afternoon. 1970 H. D. Corbin Recreation Leadership (ed. 3) xxiii. 333 The craving for adventure can be nurtured by a hike or an exploration perhaps more than by any other activity. |
2. An increase (in prices, wages, etc.). Chiefly N. Amer.
| 1931 Kansas City Star 5 Aug., The hike was occasioned by the fact that cigarette butts..are now only a half inch. 1948 Herald-Press (St. Joseph, Mich.) 14 Aug. 3/1 There is enough unfilled demand for new cars to absorb a lot more price hikes. 1966 Economist 28 May 986/1 A wave of spending at the end of last year in anticipation of hikes in indirect taxes. 1968 Observer 28 Jan. 12/3 A 7.25 per cent price hike in two months. 1969 Eugene (Oreg.) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 1 a (heading) Senate votes hike in tax exemptions. |