wick
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: 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, noun 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”)
Inflected forms:
form: wicks
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: wicks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: wicking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: wicked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: wicked
pos: verb
tags: past
form: wicker
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more wick
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: wickest
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most wick
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Trim the wick fairly short, so that the flame does not smoke.
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; […]
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; […]
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: There liues vvithin the very flame of loue / A kind of weeke or ſnufe that vvill abate it, […]
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
gloss: Often in dip one's wick: the penis.
pos: noun
tags: countable
euphemistic
slang
examples: His wick was stone stiff.
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.
gloss: Of a material (especially a textile): to convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body.
gloss: Of a material: to convey or draw off liquid by capillary action.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: Chiefly followed by through or up: of a liquid: to move by capillary action through a porous material.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The moisture slowly wicked through the wood.
gloss: Synonym of quick (“alive, living; also, active, lively”).
pos: adj
tags: England
Northern-England
Yorkshire
examples: 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.
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.
Related words: cottonwick
Derived words: all wax and no wick
Bushwick
candlewick
constablewick
dip one's wick
dip the wick
get on someone's wick
lampwick
multiwick
pickwick
wickable
wicked
wick effect
Wickfield
wickie
wickless
wicklike
wickmaker
wickmaking
inwick
wicking
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: imeä
lang: Spanish
word: absorber
lang: Spanish
word: alejar
lang: Tamil
word: உறி
roman: uṟi
lang: Tamil
word: உறிஞ்சு
roman: uṟiñcu
lang: Finnish
word: imeytyä
lang: Finnish
word: kulkeutua