wick

¹

[ wik ]

noun

1. a bundle or loose twist or braid of soft threads, or a woven strip or tube, as of cotton or asbestos, which in a candle, lamp, oil stove, cigarette lighter, or the like, serves to draw up the melted tallow or wax or the oil or other flammable liquid to be burned.

verb (used with object)

1. to draw off (liquid) by capillary action.

wick

²

[ wik ]

noun

, Curling.

1. a narrow opening in the field, bounded by other players' stones.

wick

³

[ wik ]

noun

1. British Dialect. a farm, especially a dairy farm.
2. Archaic. a village; hamlet.

Wick

⁴

[ wik ]

noun

1. a town in the Highland region, in N Scotland: herring fisheries.

wick

¹

/ wɪk /

noun

1. archaic.
   a village or hamlet

wick

²

/ wɪk /

adjective

1. lively or active
2. alive or crawling

   a dog wick with fleas

Wick

³

/ wɪk /

noun

1. a town in N Scotland, in Highland, at the head of Wick Bay (an inlet of the North Sea). Pop: 7333 (2001)

wick

⁴

/ wɪk /

noun

1. a cord or band of loosely twisted or woven fibres, as in a candle, cigarette lighter, etc, that supplies fuel to a flame by capillary action
2. get on someone's wick slang.
   to cause irritation to a person

Derived Forms

• ˈwicking, noun

Other Words From

• wickless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of wick¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English wek(e), wik(e), wicke, Old English wēoce; cognate with Middle Dutch wiecke, Middle Low German wêke, weike, Old High German wioh, wiohha “lint, wick,” German Wieke, Wike “lint”

Origin of wick²

Origin uncertain

Origin of wick³

First recorded before 900; Middle English wik(e), wek(e), Old English wīc “residence, dwelling, house, village” (compare Old Saxon wīc, Old High German wîch ), from Latin vīcus “village, estate”; cognate with Greek oîkos, woîkos “house”

Word History and Origins

Origin of wick¹

Old English wīc; related to -wich in place names, Latin vīcus, Greek oîkos

Origin of wick²

dialect variant of quick alive

Origin of wick³

Old English weoce; related to Old High German wioh, Middle Dutch wēke (Dutch wiek )

Example Sentences

Nguyen’s prose is the wick that ignited the charges he set on our screens.

From Salon

The system, made from recycled polypropylene, uses wicks to move water from the reservoir to the plants as needed.

From Seattle Times

If you’re wearing the correct layers, you can feel perspiration wick away from your body, she said.

From Seattle Times

They seemed to know just what to do: scribbling words on the paper, sticking it inside the candle wax, holding it up until the wick ignited on its own without explanation, and setting it free.

From Literature

Trains from Inverness to Aberdeen, Perth and wick were also impacted.

From BBC