Wick

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɪk

Middle English weke, wicke; Old English wēoce.

Full definition of wick

Noun

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.
• SpenserBut 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) Penis.
• 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

• get on someone's wick

Verb

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.

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 (oikos, "house"), Old Frisian wik, Old Saxon wic ("village").

Noun

1. (British, 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

Present in compounds (meaning “village”, “jurisdiction”, or “harbour”), as, bailiwick, Warwick, Greenwick, Southwick, Hampshire, , etc., also -wich.

Related terms

• vicinity
• villa
• village
• -wich

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

1. (British, dialect, chiefly Yorkshire) Alive; lively; full of life; active; bustling; nimble; quick.as wick as an eelT' 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

Origin 4