cricket

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• A signalling device used by soldiers in hostile territory to identify themselves to a friendly in low visibility conditions.
• 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.
• A game played outdoors with bats and a ball between two teams of eleven, popular in England and many Commonwealth countries.
• An act that is fair and sportsmanlike.
• A wooden footstool.

Verb

• To play the game of cricket.

Origin

• 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 (with diminituve -el), Middle Low German krikel, krekel, German Kreckel ("cricket"). More at creak.
• Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen
• {{cite-web
• |date=March 2, 2009
• |author=Chris Mason
• |work=BBC News
• |title=Cricket 'was invented in Belgium'
• .
• The etymology is Unknown. A few similar words exist in Germanic languages, such as Norwegian krakk.