wicks

Noun (1)

wick (countable and uncountable, plural wicks)

1. (countable) A braid or bundle of fibre or other porous material (now generally twisted or woven cotton) in a candle, kerosene heater, oil lamp, etc., that draws up a liquid fuel (such as melted tallow or wax, or oil) at one end, to be ignited at the other end to produce a flame.
   • Trim the wick fairly short, so that the flame does not smoke.
   1. (uncountable) Synonym of wicking (“the material of which wicks (etymology 1, noun sense 1) are made”).
      • There liues vvithin the very flame of loue / A kind of weeke or ſnufe that vvill abate it, […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...
   2. (broadly, countable) Any piece of porous material that conveys liquid by capillary action; specifically (medicine), a strip of gauze placed in a wound, etc., to absorb fluids.
2. (countable, euphemistic, slang) Often in dip one's wick: the penis.
   • His wick was stone stiff.[1969], Marcus van Heller [pseudonym; John Stevenson], Nest of Vixens, [New York, N.Y.]: Ophelia Press, →OCLC

Noun (2)

wick (plural wicks)

1. (England, obsolete except dialectal) A hamlet or village; also, a town.
   • And by report, there vvere eight thouſand Gaules there ſlaine: the reſt abandoned the vvarre, and ſlipt every one into their ovvne vvickes and villages.1600, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “[Book XXXIIII]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 866
2. (East-Anglia, England, Essex, obsolete except dialectal) A farm; specifically, a dairy farm.
   • Note a fearme [farm] in the North parts is called a Tacke, in Lancaſhire a Fermeholt, in Eſſex a Wike.[1628, Edw[ard] Coke, “Of Fee Simple”, in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, →OCLC, , section I, folio 5, recto

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