Small streams or channels of water, especially in northern England; or a surname.
From Old English 'sic' meaning stream or watercourse. The word survives mainly in English place names and as a surname, particularly in northern regions.
The word sikes survives mostly in place names like 'Sike Lane' or 'Sike Farm' in Yorkshire and Lancashire—it's a linguistic fossil showing how regional dialects preserve words the rest of English abandoned.
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