pricket

English

Etymology

From Middle English precat, preket, priket, pryket; equivalent to prick +‎ -et. Earlier currency of the Middle English word is apparently implied by surnames and borrowings into Latin and Anglo-Norman.[1]

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪkɪt/

Noun

pricket (plural prickets)

(obsolete) A candle. [14th–17th c.]
A spike for holding a single candle. [from 15th c.]
- 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 174:
  Lighting their way with tallow candles on pewter prickets.
A male deer in its second year, whose antlers have not yet branched. [from 15th c.]
- 1816, John Keats, For there's Bishop's Teign:
  he can stay / For the new-mown hay, / And startle the dappled prickets?

References

“pricket, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

Petrick

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] “pricket, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.