English
wick
see also: Wick
Pronunciation Noun

wick (plural wicks)

  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.
    • But 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, such as 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, euphemism) The 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.
Translations Verb

wick (wicks, present participle wicking; past and past participle wicked)

  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.
Noun

wick (plural wicks)

  1. (archaic) A village; hamlet; castle; dwelling; street; creek; bay; harbour; a place of work, jurisdiction, or exercise of authority.
  2. (British, dialect, chiefly, East Anglia and Essex) A farm, especially a dairy farm.
Related terms Adjective

wick (comparative wicker, superlative wickest)

  1. (British, dialect, pejorative, chiefly, Yorkshire) Alive; lively; full of life; active; bustling; nimble; quick.
    as wick as an eel
    T' 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
  2. (British, dialect, pejorative, chiefly Yorkshire) (Of inanimate objects) resistant to being put to use, stiff, stubborn (as for example a rope or a screw).
Related terms Translations Noun

wick

  1. (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire) Liveliness; life.
    I niver knew such an a thing afore in all my wick. — Ashby, 12 July 1875
  2. (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire) The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots.
    Fed close? Why, it's eaten into t' hard wick. (spoken of a pasture which has been fed very close)
  3. (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire, gardening) (Usually plural) The parts of weed roots that remain viable in the ground after inadequate digging prior to cultivation.
  4. (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire) A maggot.
Noun

wick (plural wicks)

  1. (now dialectal) A corner of the mouth or eye.
    • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 57:
      She considered him. A fiery droplet in the wick of her mouth considered him.
Wick
Proper noun
  1. A town in north-eastern Caithness, Highland (OS grid ref ND3650).
Proper noun
  1. A village in Dorset, England.
  2. A village in Gloucestershire, England.
  3. A village in West Sussex, England.
  4. A village in Worcestershire, England.


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