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Borrowed from French bicycle (modern bicyclette), from bi- (“two”) + cycle (“cycle”). By surface analysis, bi- +‎ 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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪsɪk(ə)l/

  • Audio (US):

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  • Audio (UK):

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  • Audio (General Australian):

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• (Canada, idle-idol split) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌɪsɪkəl/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /baj.sajkɪl/
• Hyphenation: bi‧cy‧cle

bicycle (plural bicycles)

1. A vehicle that has two primary 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, two-wheeler, (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.

2. (by extension, sometimes proscribed) Any similar vehicle powered by human pedaling or steered with a handlebar, regardless of the number of wheels.
   • 1980, United States. National Park Service, Trends, page 40:

     The small, three-wheeled bicycle-type vehicle is probably the lowest-cost set of wheels for routine, in-park patrol use.

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.
9. (organic chemistry) A bicyclic molecule.
10. (biochemistry) Two interconnected metabolic cycles.
    • 2021, David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox, Aaron A. Hoskins, Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry, Macmillan Learning, page 636:

      The fumarate produced in the argininosuccinase reaction is also an intermediate of the citric acid cycle. Thus, the cycles are, in principle, interconnected — in a process dubbed the “Krebs bicycle”.

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

1. (ambitransitive) To travel or exercise using a bicycle.
   • 1903 December 26, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist”, in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., published February 1905, →OCLC:

     “At least it cannot be your health," said he, as his keen eyes darted over her; "so ardent a bicyclist must be full of energy.” […] “Yes, I bicycle a good deal, Mr. Holmes, and that has something to do with my visit to you to-day.”

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.

• bécik, bécike, bécyque

From bi- +‎ cycle.

• IPA^(key): /bi.sikl/

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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bicycle m (plural bicycles)

1. bicycle

   Synonym: bicyclette

• bicyclette

• → English: bicycle
• → Polish: bicykl

• “bicycle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

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