Sick

Pronunciation

• enPR: sÄ­k, IPA: /sɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɪk
• Homophones: sic, Sikh

Middle English sek, sik, from Old English sēoc, from Proto-Germanic *seukaz (confer West Frisian siik, Dutch ziek, German siech), from Proto-Indo-European *seug- ("to be troubled or grieved"); compare Middle Irish socht ("silence, depression"), Old Armenian հիւծանիմ (hiwcanim, "I am weakening").

Full definition of sick

Adjective

1. In poor health.
• a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie." Chapter Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone, Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 7, ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. â€¦â€™
2. She was sick all day with the flu.
3. (colloquial) Mentally unstable, disturbed.
4. (colloquial) In bad taste.
   That's a sick joke.
5. Having an urge to vomit.
6. (slang) Very good, excellent, awesome.
   This tune is sick.
   Dude this car has a fully sick subwoofer!
7. In poor condition.
   sick building syndrome; my car is looking pretty sick; my job prospects are pretty sick
8. (agriculture) Failing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.
9. Tired of or annoyed by something.
   I've heard that song on the radio so many times that I'm starting to get sick of it.

Synonyms

• (in poor health) ill, not well, poorly British, sickly, unwell
• (mentally unstable) disturbed, sick in the head, twisted, warped.
• (having an urge to vomit) nauseated, nauseous
• (slang: excellent) rad, wicked

Antonyms

• (in poor health) fit, healthy, well
• (excellent) crap, naff, uncool

Derived terms

Noun

1. Sick people in general as a group.We have to cure the sick.
2. (colloquial) vomit.He lay there in a pool of his own sick.

Synonyms

• (vomit) See

Verb

1. To vomit.I woke up at 4 am and sicked on the floor.
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To fall sick; to sicken.
• circa 1598, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, part 2:Our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.

Verb

1. (rare) Alternative spelling of sic
• 1920, James Oliver Curwood, "Back to God's Country""Wapi," she almost screamed, "go back! Sick 'em, Wapi—sick 'em—sick 'em—sick 'em!"
• 1938, Eugene Gay-Tifft, translator, The Saga of Frank Dover by Johannes Buchholtz, 2005 Kessinger Publishing edition, ISBN 141915222X, page 125,When we were at work swabbing the deck, necessarily barelegged, Pelle would sick the dog on us; and it was an endless source of pleasure to him when the dog succeeded in fastening its teeth in our legs and making the blood run down our ankles.
• 1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, , 1991 LB Books edition, page 154,"...is just something God sicks on people who have the gall to accuse Him of having created an ugly world."
• 2001 (publication date), Anna Heilman, Never Far Away: The Auschwitz Chronicles of Anna Heilman, University of Calgary Press, ISBN 1552380408, page 82,Now they find a new entertainment: they sick the dog on us.