▪ I. wicket
(ˈwɪkɪt)
Forms: [3 wicat], 3–5 wykett(e, 3–6 wyket, wiket, 4–5 wikett, wekett, 4–6 wykket(t, wycket, wickett, 5 wickette, wekyt, (wigate), 5–6 weket, 6 weiket, 5– wicket.
[a. AF. = ONF. wiket (Norman viquet, Walloon wichet) = OF. (mod.F.) guichet; usually referred to the Teut. root appearing in ON. v{iacu}kja to move, turn (Sw. vika, Da. vige); but the forms OF. guischet, wisket, Pr. guisquet indicate the possibility of another source.]
1. a. A small door or gate made in, or placed beside, a large one, for ingress and egress when the large one is closed; also, any small gate for foot-passengers, as at the entrance of a field or other enclosure.
| [12.. in E. M. Thompson Cust. St. Aug. Cant. (1904) II. 256 Servientes sacristiæ tenentur esse intro ad ‘Covrefou’;..tunc deferentur claves ad sacristam, tam ‘wicat’ quam magnæ portæ cimiterii.] a 1300 K. Horn 1074 (Camb. MS.) Horn gan to þe ȝate turne & þat wiket vnspurne. a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 528, I fonde a wiket small, So shett that I ne myght In gon. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 5545 In at a wicket he went. a 1483 Engl. Gilds (1870) 320, ij. keyys for þ⊇ wekett. 1485 in Comp. Rolls Obed. St. Swithun's, Winch. (1892) 384 Super magnam portam et le Wigate ejusdem portæ. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxi. 462 Mawgys cam nere to the wycket of the gate. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxlvi. 546 He came to the abbey gate & callyd y⊇ porter,..he openyd the weket & beheld Huon,..& sayd ‘pylgryme, enter when you plese’. Then Huon enterid in at the weket. 1578 H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 295 He tooke his leaue of hir, and went out at a little wicket into a narrowe by lane. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 484 Now Saint Peter at Heav'ns Wicket seems To wait them with his Keys. 1766 Goldsm. Hermit xi, The wicket, opening with a latch, Received the harmless pair. 1818 Hazlitt Engl. Poets ii. 70 You see a little..old man by a wood-side opening a wicket. 1823 Scott Quentin D. x, He who would thrive at Court must know the private wickets and concealed staircases. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. xv, A..boy came out of a sort of office, and looked at us over a spiked wicket. 1899 Gosse Donne I. 92 The gates of the house were shut upon the dignified envoys, but, after some stay,..they were let in by the wicket. |
b. fig. or in fig. context.
| a 1400 Prymer (1895) 12 Thou art wiket of þe hiȝ king, & þe greet ȝate of liȝt þat schyneþ briȝt. c 1400 26 Pol. Poems xxii. 4 Þou..wan in at þe wyket of synne. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 117 b, Stryue to entre by the strayte wycket. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 169 With hir that will clicket make daunger to cope, Least quickly hir wicket [i.e. mouth] seeme easie to ope. 1663 G. Mackenzie Relig. Stoici xii. (1665) 96 Seeing nothing is roomed in our judgement and apprehension, but what first entred by the wicket of sense. 1693 Congreve Old Bach. iii. ii. 22 Thou art the Wicket to thy Mistresses Gate, to be opened for all Comers. a 1870 Rossetti Poems, Love's Nocturn v, At death's wicket. |
† 2. A small opening, esp. one through which to look out or communicate with the outside; a loophole, grill, or the like. Obs.
| 1296 Acc. Exch. K.R. 5/20 m. 4 dorso (P.R.O.) In .xxv. anulis ad Hecch', tribus paribus gemell ad Wykett' Bargie, xij Keuillis ferri ad Castrum .vij. d. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 4362 Ayenst the toure A postern ther is,..There is right A privey wiket; Draw we thidre..That our frendes may se vs within. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 527/2 Wykett, or lytylle wyndowe, fenestra. ? 1449 Paston Lett. I. 83 They have made wykets on every quarter of the hwse to schote owte atte. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxii. 136 Eche of them shal haue a litel wiket open for to shote a gonne. 1616 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1848) II. 341 With ane litill wicket..to luik in to the paissis. 1676 Coles Dict., Wicket, a casement. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1181/4 Having seized the Wicket or Sally-port, they got on the Ramparts. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Wicket, a casement, also, a little door. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 853/2 Wicket, a small door in the gate of a fortified place, &c. or a hole in a door through which to view what passes without. |
3. Cricket. a. A set of three sticks called stumps, fixed upright in the ground, and surmounted by two small pieces of wood called bails (bail n.4 2), forming the structure (27 × 8 in.) at which the bowler aims the ball, and at which (in front and a little to one side of it) the batsman stands to defend it with the bat. (The wicket formerly consisted of two stumps and one long bail, forming a structure one foot high by two feet wide.)
single wicket, a form of the game in which there is only one wicket, and therefore only one batsman ‘in’ at a time. (Also attrib.) double wicket, the ordinary form, in which there are two wickets placed 22 yards apart, between which the two batsmen run. to keep wicket, to act as wicket-keeper.
| 1733 in Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 6 The wickets are to be pitched by twelve o'clock. c 1750 in ‘Bat’ Crick. Man. (1850) 30 [Cricket] is performed by a person who, with a clumsy wooden bat, defends a wicket raised of two slender sticks, with one across. 1773 J. Burnby Kentish Cricketers 14 Davis, who loves a Game of Cricket, And shines whene'er he keeps the Wicket. 1778 Coventry Mercury 6 July 3/4 On Tuesday last..a Cricket Match, (full set at double wicket) was played between the Wappenbury and Coventry players. 1801 J. Strutt Sports & Pastimes Eng. II. iii. 83 Cricket... This game which is played with the bat and ball, consists of single and double wicket. 1803 Laws of Cricket 6 The Bowler..shall bowl four balls before he changes wickets. 1837 Dickens Pickw. vii, Played a match once—single wicket. 1849 Laws of Cricket in ‘Bat’ Crick. Man. (1850) 60 The bowler is subject to the same laws as at double wicket. 1850 ‘Bat’ Crick. Man. 98 A single wicket player. 1859 All Year Round No. 13. 306 Serjeant-Major McJug,..one of our best bats, went to the wicket first with Winterburn. 1884 Lillywhite's Crick. Ann. 10 Tylecote kept wicket well. 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 22 May 11/1 When the wickets were drawn Gloucestershire had made 361. |
b. In various expressions referring to a batsman's tenure of the wicket, or that part of an innings during which some particular batsman is (or might be) ‘in’, i.e. at the wicket:
e.g. to take four wickets (said of a bowler), to put four batsmen ‘out’; three wickets (or third wicket) down, three men having been put out; the sixth wicket fell for 75 = the sixth batsman was put out after 75 runs had been made in the innings; to win by eight wickets, i.e. by exceeding the opponents' full score of runs, with eight wickets yet to ‘fall’ (= with two men ‘not out’ and seven not having been ‘in’ in the innings).
| 1738 in Waghorn Cricket Scores (1899) 21 Battle..left Eastbourne 43 to get, which they did with ease, leaving four wickets to be put up when Battle was beat. 1749 Ibid. 42 They..had two wickets to go down. 1877 Blackmore Cripps lv, [They] had beaten the dalesmen by ten wickets. 1881 Standard 28 June 3/1 Another wicket now fell,..—six for 76. 1883 Daily Tel. 15 May 2/7 Full score, six wickets for 72 runs. 1900 Daily Chron. 16 Dec. 8/1 The first-wicket partnership of MacLaren and Hayward. 1902 Ibid. 4 June 6/7 Jackson took four wickets with five consecutive balls. |
c. transf. The ground between and about the wickets, esp. in respect of its condition; the pitch.
| 1862 Sporting Life 14 June, Nottinghamshire..sent C. Daft and Brampton to two as fine wickets as the Surrey ‘or any other ground’ in England could furnish. 1881 Standard 14 June 3/8 The condition of the wicket, on which the fast bowling bumped and the slows popped about. 1881 Daily News 9 July 2 The wicket did not seem to play particularly well. 1884 Lillywhite's Crick. Ann. 3 The English eleven commenced batting on a perfect wicket. 1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 17 Apr. 6/1 The wickets were all matting,..there being not a single turf wicket in the [Cape] colony. |
d. Fig. phrs.: to be on a good wicket, to be in an advantageous or favourable position; to bat (or be) on a sticky wicket: see sticky a.2 1 c.
| 1941 Punch 24 Dec. 551/1, I wondered why I was so anxious to conceal my age; for the old are on a good wicket. 1961 Listener 2 Nov. 737/2 Perhaps the most satisfactory contributions are those of Lord Birkett, who is on a good wicket in describing the change in legal attitudes to obscenity, and Dr. Robert Gosling. 1977 Verbatim Dec. 3/2 To be on a good wicket is, like being on a good pitch, to ‘be in a good spot’. To be on a good wicket with someone is to ‘be in favor’ with him. |
4. U.S. Croquet. A hoop.
| 1868 L. M. Alcott Little Women xii, Jo was through the last wicket, and had missed the stroke... Fred..gave a stroke, his ball hit the wicket, and stopped an inch on the wrong side. 1890 Century Dict. s.v. Croquet, Each person in turn strikes his own ball once; if his ball passes through a wicket..he is allowed another stroke. |
5. In various technical senses.
a. A small gate or valve for emptying the chamber of a canal-lock, or in the chute of a water-wheel for regulating the passage of water. b. Coal-mining. A very wide heading or stall, usually with two road-ways, in a variety of pillar-and-stall work (called wicket-work) in use in North Wales. c. One of a set of gratings in the form of which the lead is made up in the manufacture of white lead.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Wicket, a gate formed like a butterfly-valve, in the chute of a water-wheel, to graduate the amount of water passing to the wheel. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss. 1893 Times 16 Dec. 9/5 The dangers to health begin with the second process, the conversion of the ‘wickets’ by the corrosion of an acid into white lead. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as wicket-door (= sense 1), wicket-grate, wicket-window; (sense 3) wicket-bag, wicket-taker. See also wicket-gate, -keeper.
| 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xix, An arch'd portal door, In whose broad folding leaves..Was framed a wicket window-grate,..The gallant Knight took earnest view The grated wicket-window through. 1814 ― Wav. ix, A little oaken wicket-door. 1842 Borrow Bible in Spain xxxix, A dusky passage, at the end of which was a wicket door. 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist (1969) 90 A team of cricketers passed,..one of them carrying the long green wicketbag. 1962 Times 20 June 4/1 In the second Test match..Coldwell wins his [cap] as the season's premier wicket-taker. 1976 J. Snow Cricket Rebel 76 Barry Knight had been the main wicket-taker in the West Indies first innings with four. |
▪ II. wicket
obs. form of wicked.