wick
A braid or bundle of fibre or other porous material (now generally twisted or woven cotton) in a candle, kerosene heater, oil lamp, etc., that draws up a liquid fuel (such as melted tallow or wax, or oil) at one end, to be ignited at the other end to produce a flame.
Adjective
- Synonym of quick (“alive, living; also, active, lively”).
- Well! yo must know I were in th' Infirmary for a fever, and times were rare and bad; and there be good chaps there to a man, while he's wick, whate'er they may be about cutting him up at after. - 1848, [Elizabeth...
- Thinks Abey, t' oud codger 'll nivver smoak t' trick, / I'll swop wi' him my poor deead horse for his wick, […] - 1845, “The Yorkshire Horse-dealer”, in James Henry Dixon, editor, Scottish Traditional Versions of...
- T' wickest young chap at ivver Ah seen. - 1868, J[ohn] C[hristopher] Atkinson, “Wick, adj.”, in A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect: Explanatory, Derivative, and Critical, London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page...
Synonyms: quick
Origin
A variant of quick.
Forms
Related
Noun Entry 2
- A braid or bundle of fibre or other porous material (now generally twisted or woven cotton) in a candle, kerosene heater, oil lamp, etc., that draws up a liquid fuel (such as melted tallow or wax, or oil) at one end, to be ignited at the other end to produce a flame.
- Trim the wick fairly short, so that the flame does not smoke.
- Theſe cordes, they caule Cabuia and Henequen, which are al one thing ſauyng that Henequen is leſſe and of a fyner ſubſtaunce as it were line: And the other is groſſer lyke the wycke or twyſte of hempe, and is imperfecte...
- But true it is that vvhen the oyle is ſpent, / The light goes out, and vveeke is throvvne away; […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie,...
Hyponyms: candlewick lampwick
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(uncountable) Synonym of wicking (“the material of which wicks (etymology 1, noun sense 1) are made”).
- There liues vvithin the very flame of loue / A kind of weeke or ſnufe that vvill abate it, […] - c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second...
Synonyms: wicking
Hyponyms: candlewick lampwick
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(countable, by extension) Any piece of porous material that conveys liquid by capillary action; specifically (medicine), a strip of gauze placed in a wound, etc., to absorb fluids.
Hyponyms: candlewick lampwick
- Often in dip one's wick: the penis.
- His wick was stone stiff. - [1969], Marcus van Heller [pseudonym; John Stevenson], Nest of Vixens, [New York, N.Y.]: Ophelia Press, →OCLC:
- Thrusting his head out of a miniature waterfall, Di asked, 'You don't feel like a bit of a bunk-up this evening, Stubby, by any chance?' / 'A bit of what?' / 'Dipping your wick, man!' / This was unlike the staid,...
- Her laugh wasn't cruel in tone, but it cut through Husk like a scalpel, withering his wick even further. - 2009, Ira Robbins, “Parthenogenesis”, in Kick It till It Breaks, [New York, N.Y.]: Trouser Press, →ISBN, page...
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English wek, weke, wicke (“fibrous cord drawing fuel to flame of a candle, etc.; material used to make this object”), from Old English wēoce (“wick”), from Proto-West Germanic *weukā (“flax bundle; wick”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *weg- (“to weave”). It has been suggested that noun etymology 1, noun sense 2 (“penis”) is derived from Hampton Wick, used as rhyming slang for prick. If so, that sense should be placed under etymology 2. The verb is derived from the noun. cognates * Dutch wiek (“wick; wing; blade, propeller”) * German Wieche (“wick; wisp”) * Swedish veke (“wick”) * West Frisian wjok, wjuk (“wing”)
Forms
Related
Derived
all wax and no wick Bushwick candlewick constablewick dip one's wick dip the wick get on someone's wick inwick lampwick multiwick pickwick wickable wicked wick effect Wickfield wickie wicking wickless wicklike wickmaker wickmaking
Noun England, UK
- A maggot.
- The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots.
- Fed close? Why, it’s eaten into t’ hard wick.
- The part of the root of a weed that remains viable in the ground after inadequate digging prior to cultivation.
- Life; also, liveliness.
Forms
Noun England, dialectal
- A angle or corner; specifically, a corner of the eye or mouth.
- [H]ee vvould therefore haue you to make ſome expert Horſe farrier, to ſlit vp the vveekes of your Horſes mouth, equallie on both ſides of his cheekes, vvith a ſharpe rayſor, and then to ſeare it vvith a hot yron, and ſo...
- Croudy hung his head to one side, and chuckled, and crowed, and laid on the ground with his staff; and always now and then cast a sly look-out at the wick of his eye to Pery. - 1818, James Hogg, “The Hunt of Eildon....
- She considered him. A fiery droplet in the wick of her mouth considered him. - 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 12, in Ada, or, Ardor: A Family Chronicle, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1970,...
-
Short for wick-tooth (“a canine tooth”).
- A grove; also, a hollow.
Origin
From Late Middle English wike, wyke (“corner of part of the body”), from Old Norse *vík (“angle, bend, corner”) (attested in munnvík (“corner of the mouth”)), from víkja (“to move, bend, curve; to retreat”) (related to Old Norse vikna (“to cave in, yield”)), probably from Proto-Germanic *wīkwaną (“to cease; to yield”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃weyg-, *weyg- (“to bend, turn; to wind”).
Forms
Noun England
- A hamlet or village; also, a town.
- And by report, there vvere eight thouſand Gaules there ſlaine: the reſt abandoned the vvarre, and ſlipt every one into their ovvne vvickes and villages. - 1600, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book XXXIIII]”, in Philemon...
- A farm; specifically, a dairy farm.
- Note a fearme [farm] in the North parts is called a Tacke, in Lancaſhire a Fermeholt, in Eſſex a Wike. - [1628, Edw[ard] Coke, “Of Fee Simple”, in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London:...
- Wick Farm—almost every village has its outlying ‘wick’—stands alone in the fields. - 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Farmhouse—Traditions—Hunting Pictures—The Farmer’s Year—Sport—The Auction Festival—A Summer’s...
- An enclosed piece of land; a close.
Origin
From Middle English wik, wike, wich, wicke (“dwelling, home; building or land, probably enclosed, in which work is done; area, region, territory; city, town; hamlet, village”), from Old English wīc (“dwelling place, abode, lodging; temporary dwelling place, camp; place where a thing remains; town, village”), and then probably: * from Latin vīcus (“row of houses; street; quarter, neighbourhood; hamlet, village; municipal section or ward; farm”), from Proto-Italic *weikos (“village”); and/or * from Proto-West Germanic *wīhs (“burgh, village; colony, settlement; dwelling”), from Proto-Germanic *wīhsą (“settlement; village”); both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyḱ- (“to enter in; to settle; settlement”). Doublet of vicus and -wich. cognates * Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) (whence English eco-) * Dutch wijk (“quarter, district”) * Old Frisian wik * Old High German wîch, wih...
Forms
Related
Derived
Eton Wick Hackney Wick Hampton Wick Hannington Wick Haydon Wick herdwick Herdwick wich wych wickemaster Wick Hill
Noun ball games, curling
- A shot where the played bowl or stone touches a stationary bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; a cannon.
- Synonym of port (“a narrow opening between other players' bowls or stones wide enough for a delivered bowl or stone to pass through”).
Synonyms: port
Origin
Probably borrowed from Scots wick (“(noun) shot in which a bowl or stone is aimed at another so that one or other is deflected at an angle towards the tee, cannon; (verb) to strike (a bowl or curling stone) in such a manner; to (attempt to) reach the tee in this manner”), The Scots noun is probably derived from Middle English wike, wyke (“corner of part of the body”); the verb from Old Norse víkja (“to move, bend, curve; to retreat”): see further at etymology 4.
Forms
Derived
Noun ball games, curling
- A basket made of wickers (“flexible branches or twigs of a plant such as willow woven together”); a creel.
- A captive fish still fills the anxious eyes / And willow-wicks lie ready for the prize; […] - 1821, John Clare, “[Poems.] Rustic Fishing.”, in The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, volume II, London: […] [T. Miller]...
- Wickers collectively; also, synonym of wickerwork (“wickers woven together”).
Origin
Probably a clipping of wicker.
Forms
Noun ball games, curling
- An inlet, such as a creek or small bay.
- The power thou dost covet / O'er tempest and wave, / Shall be thine, thou proud maiden, / By beach and by cave,— / By stack and by skerry, by noup, and by voe, / By air and by wick, and by helyer and gio, / And by every...
Origin
Possibly from Middle English *wik (compare Old English wīc (“small bay, bight; creek, inlet”)), or from Old Norse vík (“bay; small creek, inlet”) (in place names; compare *vík (“angle, bend, corner”), attested in munnvík (“corner of the mouth”)), from Proto-Germanic *wīkō (“bay; fjord, inlet”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg- (“to bend, turn; to wind”), *weyk- (“to bend, curve”).
Forms
Verb Entry 9
- Of a material (especially a textile): to convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.
- The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body.
- Of a material: to convey or draw off liquid by capillary action.
- Chiefly followed by through or up: of a liquid: to move by capillary action through a porous material.
- The moisture slowly wicked through the wood.
Forms
Verb ball games, curling
- To strike (a stationary bowl or stone) with one's own bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; to cannon.
- He vvas the king of a' the Core, / To guard, or dravv, or vvick a bore, […] - 1787, Robert Burns, “Tam Samson’s Elegy”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas]...
- To strike a stationary bowl or stone with one's own bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; to cannon.