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Webster 1913 Edition


wick

wick

(wĭk)
,
Noun.
[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.]
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.
But true it is, that when the oil is spent
The light goes out, and
wick
is thrown away.
Spenser.

wick

,
Verb.
I.
(Curling)
To strike a stone in an oblique direction.
Jamieson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Wick

WICK

,
Noun.
A number of threads of cotton or some similar substance, loosely twisted into a string, round which wax or tallow is applied by means of melting and running in a mold, and thus forming a candle or torch.

Definition 2024


Wick

Wick

See also: wick and -wick

English

Proper noun

Wick

  1. A town in north-eastern Caithness, Scotland

wick

wick

See also: Wick and -wick

English

Noun

wick (countable and uncountable, plural wicks)

  1. A bundle, twist, braid, or woven strip of cord, fabric, fibre/fiber, or other porous material in a candle, oil lamp, kerosene heater, or the like, that draws up liquid fuel, such as melted tallow, wax, or the oil, delivering it to the base of the flame for conversion to gases and burning; any other length of material burned for illumination in small successive portions.
    Trim the wick fairly short, so that the flame does not smoke.
    • Spenser
      But true it is, that when the oil is spent / The light goes out, and wick is thrown away.
  2. Any piece of porous material that conveys liquid by capillary action; e.g. a strip of gauze placed in a wound to serve as a drain.
  3. (curling) A narrow opening in the field, flanked by other players' stones.
  4. (curling) A shot where the played stone touches a stationary stone just enough that the played stone changes direction.
  5. (slang) ****.
    • 2008, Marcus Van Heller, Nest of Vixens, ISBN 9781596549449, p. 17:
      His wick was stone stiff.
    • 2009, Ira Robbins, Kick It Till It Breaks, Trouser Press, ISBN 9780984253913, p. 130:
      Her laugh wasn't cruel in tone, but it cut through Husk like a scalpel, withering his wick even further.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

wick (third-person singular simple present wicks, present participle wicking, simple past and past participle wicked)

  1. (transitive) To convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.
    The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body.
  2. (intransitive, of a liquid) To traverse (i.e. be conveyed by capillary action) through a wick or other porous material, as water through a sponge. Usually followed by through.
    The moisture slowly wicked through the wood.
  3. (curling) To strike (a stone) obliquely; to strike (a stationary stone) just enough that the played stone changes direction.

Etymology 2

From earlier Middle English wik, wich (village, hamlet, town); from Old English wīc (dwelling place, abode); Germanic borrowing from Latin vīcus (village, estate) (see vicinity). Came to mean “dairy farm” around 13th–14th century (e.g. Gatwick “Goat-farm”). Compare cognates: Old High German wîch, wih (village), German Weichbild (municipal area), Dutch wijk (quarter, district), Ancient Greek οἶκος (oîkos, house), Old Frisian wik, Old Saxon wic (village).

Noun

wick (plural wicks)

  1. (Britain, dialect, chiefly East Anglia and Essex) A farm, especially a dairy farm.
  2. (archaic) A village; hamlet; castle; dwelling; street; creek; bay; harbour; a place of work, jurisdiction, or exercise of authority.
Usage notes
Related terms

Etymology 3

From Old English cwic (alive); similar to an archaic meaning of quick (endowed with life; having a high degree of vigor, energy, or activity), and quicken (come to life).

Adjective

wick (comparative wicker or more wick, superlative wickest or most wick)

  1. (Britain, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Alive; lively; full of life; active; bustling; nimble; quick.
    as wick as an eel
    T' wickest young chap at ivver Ah seen.
    He's a strange wick bairn alus runnin' aboot.
    I'll skin ye wick! (skin you alive)
    I thowt they was dead last back end but they're wick enif noo.
    "Are you afraid of going across the churchyard in the dark?" "Lor' bless yer noä miss! It isn't dead uns I'm scar'd on, it's wick uns."
    I'll swop wi' him my poor dead horse for his wick.Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England, page 210
Related terms
  • wicken

Noun

wick

  1. (Britain, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Liveliness; life.
    I niver knew such an a thing afore in all my wick. — Ashby, 12 July 1875
  2. (Britain, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots.
    Fed close? Why, it's eaten into t' hard wick. (spoken of a pasture which has been fed very close)
  3. (Britain, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) A maggot.

Etymology 4

From Old Norse vik.

Noun

wick (plural wicks)

  1. (now dialectal) A corner of the mouth or eye.
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 57:
      She considered him. A fiery droplet in the wick of her mouth considered him.

References

  • "wick" in BBC - North Yorkshire - Voices - Glossary
  • Notes and Queries, Tenth Series, Vol. IV, 1905, page 170
  • A. Smythe Palmer, Folk-Etymology, A Dictionary of verbal corruptions or words perverted in form or meaning, by false derivation or mistaken analogy, 1882, page xxii
  • John Christopher Atkinson, A glossary of the Cleveland dialect: explanatory, derivative, and critical, 1868, page 573
  • W. D. Parish, Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect and Collection of Provincialisms in use in the County of Sussex, 1877, page 274-5