basket work

Noun

basketwork (usually uncountable, plural basketworks)

1. (usually) Material woven in the style of a basket.
   • The Village Walls resemble those in Hungary, but are something worse, being only long Stakes thrust into the Ground, and crossed through like Basket-work, and so dawbed all over on both sides with Mud and Dirt.1671, John Burbury, A Relation of the Journey of the Right Honourable My Lord Henry Howard from London to Vienna, and thence to Constantinople, London: T. Collins et al., p. 172

   Synonyms:

   wicker, wickerwork

2. (usually) The craft of making such material.
   • In one of his letters to Mrs [Madge] Kendal, Joseph [Merrick] mentioned that he hoped one day to be able to learn basket work. She promptly arranged for an instructor to teach him the craft.1980, Michael Howell, Peter Ford, chapter 9, in The True History of the Elephant Man, Penguin, page 123

   Synonyms:

   basketry, basket weaving