adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
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"Trim the wick fairly short, so that the flame does not smoke."
"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."
"[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; […]"
"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."
"A captive fish still fills the anxious eyes / And willow-wicks lie ready for the prize; […]"
"There liues vvithin the very flame of loue / A kind of weeke or ſnufe that vvill abate it, […]"
"Note a fearme [farm] in the North parts is called a Tacke, in Lancaſhire a Fermeholt, in Eſſex a Wike."
"Fed close? Why, it’s eaten into t’ hard wick."
"His wick was stone stiff."
"The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body."
"He vvas the king of a' the Core, / To guard, or dravv, or vvick a bore, […]"
"The moisture slowly wicked through the wood."
"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."
"A candle without a wick is no candle at all."
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.
Common synonyms include: absorb, absorbent, candlewick, cord, cottonwick, crossroads.
A candle without a wick is no candle at all.
Pronounced /wɪk/.
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 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. cognates * 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. cognates * 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”).
Probably borrowed from Scots wick (“(noun) shot in which a bowl or stone is aimed at another so that one or other is deflected at an angle towards the tee, cannon; (verb) to strike (a bowl or curling stone) in such a manner; to (attempt to) reach the tee in this manner”), The Scots noun is probably derived from Middle English wike, wyke (“corner of part of the body”); the verb from Old Norse víkja (“to move, bend, curve; to retreat”): see further at etymology 4.
Possibly from Middle English *wik (compare Old English wīc (“small bay, bight; creek, inlet”)), or from Old Norse vík (“bay; small creek, inlet”) (in place names; compare *vík (“angle, bend, corner”), attested in munnvík (“corner of the mouth”)), from Proto-Germanic *wīkō (“bay; fjord, inlet”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyg- (“to bend, turn; to wind”), *weyk- (“to bend, curve”).
Probably a clipping of wicker.
From Old Norse vík (“bay, inlet”), from Proto-Germanic *wīkō.
From Old English wīc (“dairy farm”).