Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈkɹɪkɪt/
From Middle English creket, crykett, crykette, from Old French criket (with diminutive -et) from criquer, from Middle Dutch kricken, from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, from Proto-Germanic *krakōną, related to Middle English creken, criken, all ultimately of imitative origin.
Compare Dutch kriek, Middle Dutch krikel, criekel, crekel ("cricket") (with diminituve -el), Middle Low German krikel, krekel ("cricket"), German Kreckel. More at creak.
Nouncricket (plural crickets)
An insect in the order Orthoptera, especially family Gryllidae, that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wing casings against combs on its hind legs. - (US, slang, humorous, in the plural) In the form crickets: absolute silence; no communication.
- A signalling device used by soldiers in hostile territory to identify themselves to a friendly in low visibility conditions.
- (aviation, slang) An aural warning sound consisting of a continuously-repeating chime, designed to be difficult for pilots to ignore.
- French: grillon, cri-cri, criquet
- German: Grille
- Italian: grillo
- Portuguese: grilo
- Russian: сверчо́к
- Spanish: grillo
Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen.
Nouncricket (uncountable)
(sports) A game played outdoors with bats and a ball between two teams of eleven, popular in England and many Commonwealth countries. - (chiefly, British, usually in negative constructions) An act that is fair and sportsmanlike.
- Antonyms: not cricket
- 1954, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 7, page 81:
- Robbins went on, "Henry wouldn't do anything that wasn't cricket. Me, I was raised in a river ward and I'm not bothered by niceties. […]
- A variant of the game of darts. See Cricket (darts).
- French: cricket
- German: Cricket, Kricket
- Italian: cricket
- Portuguese: críquete
- Russian: кри́кет
- Spanish: críquet, cricket
- Italian: fair play
cricket (crickets, present participle cricketing; simple past and past participle cricketed)
- (rare, intransitive) To play the game of cricket.
- 1891 May 27, "A Cricketer in Low Circumstances", The Evening News (Sydney); cited in "What do we know about the first Test cricketer?", ESPNcricinfo ↗, 7 August 2016
- Judge: Your family is in destitute circumstances. How do you get your living?
- Charles Bannerman: By cricketing, your Worship.
- Judge: Your family is in destitute circumstances. How do you get your living?
- 1891 May 27, "A Cricketer in Low Circumstances", The Evening News (Sydney); cited in "What do we know about the first Test cricketer?", ESPNcricinfo ↗, 7 August 2016
The etymology is unknown. A few similar words exist in Germanic - languages, such as Norwegian krakk.
Nouncricket (plural crickets)
- (dialectal) A wooden footstool.
- A relatively small area of a roof constructed to divert water from a horizontal intersection of the roof with a chimney, wall, expansion joint, or other projection.
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