creel
Americannoun
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a wickerwork basket worn on the back or suspended from the shoulder, used especially by anglers for carrying fish.
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a basket made of wicker or other material, for holding fish, lobsters, etc.
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a trap for fish, lobsters, etc., especially one made of wicker.
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a framework, especially one for holding bobbins in a spinning machine.
noun
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a wickerwork basket, esp one used to hold fish
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a wickerwork trap for catching lobsters, etc
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the framework on a spinning machine that holds the bobbins
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dialect a wooden frame suspended from a ceiling, used for drying clothes
Etymology
Origin of creel
1275–1325; Middle English crele, of uncertain origin
Explanation
The basket used to hold a fish after it's caught is a creel. When you head out with your fishing pole to catch something for dinner, be sure to remember your creel! Creel has a Scottish origin, and it originally meant "a basket for carrying on the back." The earliest fishing creels were made of wicker, and most of them still are today. Sometimes an angler will keep the fish cool inside the creel by lining it with moss and dipping it in a river or creek. This word is also used to mean "lobster trap," most commonly in Scotland.
Vocabulary lists containing creel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Police are continuing to search for the sole occupant of a creel boat after it washed ashore in Aberdeenshire.
From BBC • Dec. 21, 2025
These entanglements can involve creel fishing gear or ghost gear - rope and nets that have been lost or abandoned by fishing boats.
From BBC • Mar. 4, 2025
Following a biopsy, cancer was found on the right side of the creel fisherman and Airbnb owner's prostate.
From BBC • Dec. 13, 2024
Bally Philp operates a creel boat out of Kyleakin harbour on the Isle of Skye and sells his high-value langoustines to restaurants across the UK.
From BBC • Apr. 13, 2023
I remember the smell of crushed ferns in the creel and the delicate sweet odor of fresh damp rainbow trout lying so prettily on the green bed.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
