bicycle

[ bahy-si-kuhl, -sik-uhl, -sahy-kuhl ]
See synonyms for bicycle on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a vehicle with two wheels in tandem, usually propelled by pedals connected to the rear wheel by a chain, and having handlebars for steering and a saddlelike seat.

verb (used without object),bi·cy·cled, bi·cy·cling.
  1. to ride a bicycle.

verb (used with object),bi·cy·cled, bi·cy·cling.
  1. to ship or transport directly by bicycle or other means.

Origin of bicycle

1
From French, dating back to 1865–70; see origin at bi-1, cycle

Other words from bicycle

  • bi·cy·clist, bi·cy·cler, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bicycle in a sentence

  • At the end of each evening, he would begin to nod off, and I bicycled my way back to the hotel.

    Reading Nabokov to Nabokov | Lila Azam Zanganeh | February 29, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • I bicycled over yesterday evening, and have been at it since then.'

    Trent's Last Case | E.C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley
  • We grown-ups bicycled along behind the seventeen kilometres to Morlaix.

    Paris Vistas | Helen Davenport Gibbons
  • It was fair in the morning so I bicycled, thinking that as the rain was so heavy it would have cleaned the roads.

    A Journal from Japan | Marie Carmichael Stopes
  • So now if one bicycled off it would be into the very maw of an angry bull.

    Dangerous Ages | Rose Macaulay
  • She actually bicycled off to the railway station, sent a telegram for her things, and came up to Margaret.

    Elizabeth's Campaign | Mrs. Humphrey Ward

British Dictionary definitions for bicycle

bicycle

/ (ˈbaɪsɪkəl) /


noun
  1. a vehicle with a tubular metal frame mounted on two spoked wheels, one behind the other. The rider sits on a saddle, propels the vehicle by means of pedals that drive the rear wheel through a chain, and steers with handlebars on the front wheel: Often shortened to: cycle, informal bike

verb
  1. (intr) to ride a bicycle; cycle

Origin of bicycle

1
C19: from bi- 1 + Late Latin cyclus, from Greek kuklos wheel

Derived forms of bicycle

  • bicyclist or bicycler, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012