Pronunciations (2)
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/ˈwɪk/
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/ˈwɘk/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
Noun
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.
Usage- Countable
- Narrower terms
- Examples
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Trim the wick fairly short, so that the flame does not smoke.
More examples (1)
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 in compariſon to the other.
But true it is that vvhen the oyle is ſpent, / The light goes out, and vveeke is throvvne away; […]
More examples (5)
But novv vvee vvill ſpeake of the Continuance of Flames, ſuch as are vſed for Candles, Lamps, or Tapers; conſiſting of Inflammable Matters, and of a VVieke that prouoketh Inflammation. […] Triall vvas likevviſe made of ſeuerall Wickes; as of Ordinary Cotton; Sovving Thred; Ruſh; Silke; Stravv; and VVood.
[W]e may take notice of the Smoak that iſſues out of the VVeik of a Candle nevvly blovvn out; for vvhilſt the ſooty Corpuſcles retain their Bigneſe and Texture, they are able to offend the Noſtrils very much by their Stink; […]
And thus they spend / The little vvick of life's poor ſhallovv lamp, / In playing tricks vvith nature, giving lavvs / To diſtant vvorlds and trifling their ovvn.
The dice went rattling on; the candles were burning dim, with great long wicks.
My improvements in the manufacture of candle-wick apply particularly to the common or well-known plaited or platted wick, used in candles, for supporting combustion, and consist, / Firstly, in the introduction of one, two, or more straight distended warps, to form the base of a platted or woven candle-wick, such wick being made from three or more strands of cotton; […]
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. Synonym of wicking (“the material of which wicks (etymology 1, noun sense 1) are made”).
Usage- Uncountable
- Examples
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There liues vvithin the very flame of loue / A kind of weeke or ſnufe that vvill abate it, […]
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. 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.
Usage- broadly
- Countable
Often in dip one's wick: the penis.
Usage- Countable
- euphemistic
- Slang
- Examples
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His wick was stone stiff.
More examples (1)
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, chapel-going Di I thought I knew. 'I'm careful where I dip my wick, mate. Got a bit of respect for it.'
Her laugh wasn't cruel in tone, but it cut through Husk like a scalpel, withering his wick even further.
Verb
Of a material (especially a textile): to convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body.
Of a material: to convey or draw off liquid by capillary action.
Usage- Intransitive
Chiefly followed by through or up: of a liquid: to move by capillary action through a porous material.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The moisture slowly wicked through the wood.
Noun
A hamlet or village; also, a town.
Usage- England
- Examples
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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.
A farm; specifically, a dairy farm.
Usage- East-Anglia
- England
- Essex
- Examples
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Note a fearme [farm] in the North parts is called a Tacke, in Lancaſhire a Fermeholt, in Eſſex a Wike.
Wick Farm—almost every village has its outlying ‘wick’—stands alone in the fields.
An enclosed piece of land; a close.
Usage- England
- Obsolete
Adjective
Synonym of quick (“alive, living; also, active, lively”).
Usage- England
- Northern-England
- Yorkshire
- Related words
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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.
Thinks Abey, t' oud codger 'll nivver smoak t' trick, / I'll swop wi' him my poor deead horse for his wick, […]
T' wickest young chap at ivver Ah seen.
More examples (4)
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?" a young lady inquired of an old woman. "Lor' bless yer noä miss! It isn't dead uns I'm scar'd on, it's wick uns." […] I heard at the village of Yaddlethorpe, some five years after, a mother scolding her child. Among other threats, she said, "I'll skin ye wick." This threat with us usually takes the more modern form of "I'll skin ye alive."
"That one [a tree]?" she said. "Is that one quite alive—quite?" / Dickon curved his wide smiling mouth. / "It's as wick as you or me," he said; and Mary remembered that Martha had told her that "wick" meant "alive" or "lively." / "I'm glad it's wick!" she cried out in her whisper. "I want them all to be wick. Let us go round the garden and count how many wick ones there are."
[T]his 'oss [horse] is as wick as an eel. Could kick a fly's eye out.
Noun
A maggot.
Usage- England
- UK usage
- Yorkshire
- Countable
- dialectal
The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots.
Usage- England
- UK usage
- Yorkshire
- Countable
- dialectal
- Uncountable
- Examples
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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.
Usage- England
- UK usage
- Yorkshire
- Countable
- dialectal
- in-plural
- Uncountable
Life; also, liveliness.
Usage- England
- UK usage
- Yorkshire
- dialectal
- Obsolete
- Uncountable
Noun
A angle or corner; specifically, a corner of the eye or mouth.
Usage- England
- dialectal
- Obsolete
- Examples
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More examples (2)
[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 heale it in ſuch ſorte, as the ſydes thereof may no more grovv together, but appeare like a natural mouth: to vvhome I make this anſvvere, that I imagine neither hee, nor any other Horſe-man hath heere in England ſeene a horſe of that ſhallovvneſſe of mouth, vvhich vvold not giue place for a reaſonable bytt to lie in; […]
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.
She considered him. A fiery droplet in the wick of her mouth considered him.
A grove; also, a hollow.
Usage- England
- dialectal
- Obsolete
Noun
A shot where the played bowl or stone touches a stationary bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; a cannon.
Usage- England
Synonym of port (“a narrow opening between other players' bowls or stones wide enough for a delivered bowl or stone to pass through”).
Usage- England
Verb
To strike (a stationary bowl or stone) with one's own bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; to cannon.
Usage- England
- Transitive
- Examples
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He vvas the king of a' the Core, / To guard, or dravv, or vvick a bore, […]
To strike a stationary bowl or stone with one's own bowl or stone just enough that the former changes direction; to cannon.
Usage- England
- Intransitive
Noun
An inlet, such as a creek or small bay.
Usage- England
- Northern-England
- Scotland
- Examples
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More examples (1)
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 wild shore which the northern winds know, / And the northern tides lave.
Noun
A basket made of wickers (“flexible branches or twigs of a plant such as willow woven together”); a creel.
Usage- England
- Countable
- Examples
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A captive fish still fills the anxious eyes / And willow-wicks lie ready for the prize; […]
Wickers collectively; also, synonym of wickerwork (“wickers woven together”).
Usage- England
- Uncountable
Noun
any piece of cord that conveys liquid by capillary action
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the physician put a wick in the wound to drain it
a loosely woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel by capillary action up into the flame
- Synonyms
- Broader terms