wick

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• 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.
• A narrow opening in the field, flanked by other players' stones.
• A shot where the played stone touches a stationary stone just enough that the played stone changes direction.
• The penis.
• A farm, especially a dairy farm.
• Liveliness; life.
• The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots.
• (Usually plural) The parts of weed roots that remain viable in the ground after inadequate digging prior to cultivation.
• A maggot.
• A corner of the mouth or eye.

Verb

• To convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.
• 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.
• To strike (a stone) obliquely; to strike (a stationary stone) just enough that the played stone changes direction.

Adjective

• Alive; lively; full of life; active; bustling; nimble; quick.
• resistant to being put to use, stiff, stubborn (as for example a rope or a screw).

Origin

• From Middle English weke, wicke, from Old English wēoce ("wick"), from Proto-Germanic *weukǭ ("flax bundle, wick"), from Proto-Indo-European *weg- ("to weave"). Compare West Frisian wjok, wjuk, Dutch wiek ("wing; propeller, blade; wick"), German Wieche ("wisp; wick").
• From earlier Middle English wik, wich; from Old English wīc ("dwelling place, abode"); Germanic borrowing from Latin vīcus ("village, estate") (see vicinity).
• It came to mean “dairy farm” around the 13th or 14th century; for instance, Gatwick. Cognates include Old High German wîch, wih, German Weichbild ("municipal area"), Dutch wijk ("quarter, district"), Old Frisian wik, Old Saxon wic ("village"), as well as Ancient Greek οἶκος ("house"), whence English eco-. vicus.
• From Old English cwic; similar to an archaic meaning of quick, and quicken.
• From Old Norse vik, from víkja.