wick
/ˈwɪk/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms wicks wicking wicked wicker wickest
- noun (countable) 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.”
- noun (uncountable) Synonym of wicking (“the material of which wicks (etymology 1, noun sense 1) are made”).
- noun (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.
- noun (countable, euphemistic, slang) Often in dip one's wick: the penis.
- verb (transitive) Of a material (especially a textile): to convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action. “The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body.”
- verb Of a material: to convey or draw off liquid by capillary action.
- verb 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.”
- noun (obsolete except dialectal) A hamlet or village; also, a town.
- noun (obsolete except dialectal, chiefly East Anglia and Essex) A farm; specifically, a dairy farm.
- noun (obsolete) An enclosed piece of land; a close.
- adjective (Northern England, chiefly Yorkshire) Synonym of quick (“alive, living; also, active, lively”).
- noun (countable) A maggot.
- noun The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots. “Fed close? Why, it’s eaten into t’ hard wick.”
- noun (chiefly in the plural) The part of the root of a weed that remains viable in the ground after inadequate digging prior to cultivation.
- noun (uncountable, obsolete) Life; also, liveliness.
- noun A angle or corner; specifically, a corner of the eye or mouth.
- noun A grove; also, a hollow.
- noun A shot where the played bowl or stone touches a stationary bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; a cannon.
- noun Synonym of port (“a narrow opening between other players' bowls or stones wide enough for a delivered bowl or stone to pass through”).
- verb (transitive) To strike (a stationary bowl or stone) with one's own bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; to cannon.
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
* Dutch wiek (“wick; wing; blade, propeller”)
* German Wieche (“wick; wisp”)
* Swedish veke (“wick”)
* West Frisian wjok, wjuk (“wing”)
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.
* Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, “house”) (whence English eco-)
* Dutch wijk (“quarter, district”)
* Old Frisian wik
* Old High German wîch, wih (“village”) (modern German Weichbild (“municipal area”))
* Old Saxon wic (“village”)
A variant of quick.
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”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A street; a village; a castle; a dwelling; a place of work, or exercise of authority; --now obsolete except in composition; as, bailiwick, Warwick, Greenwick. Stow.
- noun A narrow port or passage in the rink or course, flanked by the stones of previous players.
- noun A bundle of fibers, or a loosely twisted or braided cord, tape, or tube, usually made of soft spun cotton threads, which by capillary attraction draws up a steady supply of the oil in lamps, the melted tallow or wax in candles, or other material used for illumination, in small successive portions, to be burned.
- verb To strike a stone in an oblique direction. Jamieson.
Etymology [AS. wic village, fr. L. vicus. In some names of places, perhaps fr. Icel. vik an inlet, creek, bay. See Vicinity, and cf. Villa.]
Etymology [OE. wicke, weyke, weke, AS. weoca or wecca; cf. D. wiek a roll of lint, Prov. G. wicke, and wieche, OHG. wiohha, Sw. veke, Dan. væge; of uncertain origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “wick”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details