▪ I. wicker, n.
(ˈwɪkə(r))
Forms: 4–5 wyker, 4–6 wekir, 6–7 wycker, (5 wikre, wikir, wykyr, qwykyr, wekker, 6 wycre, wykir, -ur, wiker, wikker, wykkyr, wickar, -ir, 7 wykker), 5– wicker.
[East Scandinavian (MSw. and Sw. dial. viker, early Da. viger, Da. dial. vigger willow, osier, branch of willow); f. root of Sw. vika to bend (cf. OE. w{iacu}can to give way, collapse, and weak a., woke).]
1. A pliant twig or small rod, usually of willow, esp. as used for making baskets and various other objects; an osier; a withe. Chiefly in pl. (= sense 2).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. cxxviii. (1495), Suche vessels were fyrste made of tree and of wykers: as panyers, baskettes. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 23385 Whan the smale wikres brak, The hopes wenten al to wrak. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 717/25 Hoc vimen, -nis, qwykyr. 1508 Dunbar Poems vi. 45 My hert that neuer wes sickir,..Thought I wald bynd it with a wickir. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia i. (1895) 31 The sayles were made of greate russhes, or of wyckers, and in some places of lether. 1586 Holinshed Chron. III. 861/2 Great images of wickers..made like great men of diuerse strange nations. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. 58 In our Country, the Hives principally in use, are either made of wickers, or of straw. 1807 Crabbe Sir Eustace Grey 247 And stones erect their shadows shed On humble graves, with wickers bound. 1811 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 33 The wickers of the [lobster] pots. 1899 P. Kropotkin Mem. Rev. iv. ix. II. 70 To ply the wickers and to shape them into an elegant basket. |
b. Such a twig or small branch, as part of the living plant. ?
Obs.| 1508 Dunbar Lament for Makaris 14 As with the wynd wavis the wickir. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Esparto, wicker, a kinde of tree whereof they make frailes. 1796 Burns Poem on Life iii, Flickering, feeble, and unsicker.., Aye wavering like the willow-wicker. |
c. A twig or small branch used as a mark.
local.
| 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Wike, Wicker, a mark used in setting out tithes; generally a small branch of a tree. |
2. (without
pl.) Wickers collectively, or as plaited together; wickerwork.
| 1336 Cal. Docum. Scot. (1887) III. 356 Et stramen, ‘wekirr’ et ‘tempil’ pro coopertura domorum. Ibid., In empcione..de ‘wekir’ et ‘tempil’ per vices xij d. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) ii. 227/1 His vessell wherin he weted his wekker & roddes for to make withall panyers maundes & baskettes. 1552–3 in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 112, iiijor hampers of wicker to put in thapparrell. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II c. 4 Sched. s.v. Bottles, Bottles of Glass covered w{supt}{suph} Wicker. 1791 Cowper Iliad xviii. 709 Youths and maidens blithe In frails of wicker bore the luscious fruit. 1838 Thirlwall Greece xxxi. IV. 203 Shields of wood or wicker, whitened over, were substituted by some for metal armour. |
3. A basket, cradle, chair, etc. of wicker.
| 1646 Codrington Earl of Essex 2 To omit the presages..of the promising Madams who rocked his Cradle, I will not say, that in that moving wicker (like another Hercules) hee strangled in each hand the two invading Dragons of transcending Prerogative and Superstition. 1699 L. Meager New Art Garden. 40 The Orange-trees..are so tender, that they must be planted in Pots, Wickers, or Wooden Troughs. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol. ii. 329 By that illustrious Wicker, where they sate In comely Pride. 1818 Keats Endym. i. 137 Each having a white wicker over brimm'd With April's tender younglings. 1861 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 137 Huge wickers of eggs. |
4. attrib. Made or consisting of wicker, as a basket, chair, etc.; also, covered with or encased in wicker, as a bottle. See also
wickerwork.
| 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. York (1830) 84 Two wycre bottelles. 1523–4 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 322, ij yerdys of wykur matt. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 358 The..valliaunt warriour, was once wrapped in swathling clowtes, and lay crying in a wicker cradle. 1587 A. Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1315/2 Pendents made of wicker rods. 1596 Spenser Prothal. ii, A Flocke of Nymphes..And each one had a little wicker basket, Made of fine twigs. 1603 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 515/2 Ilk hundreth wykker sparris..2 penneis. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl K 2, A wicker cage tames a nightingale. 1619 Depos. Bk. Archdeac. Essex & Colch. lf. 98 (MS.) We found the said Testatrix sitting in a wicker chayer by the fyer side. 1676 Sammes Brit. Antiq. Illustr. I. 105 In sacrificing of Men to their Idols, in a Wicker Image. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 203 Wicker-hives made of Privet, Willow, or Harl. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 74 Twigs that would bend to make Wicker Ware. 1822 Good Study Med. (1829) V. 338 A wicker basket of palm twigs. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxix, Gabriel Grub..drew forth his wicker bottle. 1891 Hardy Tess lii, The wicker-cradle they had all been rocked in. |
b. wicker wings, attributed to various sinister creatures.
The source of the allusion is unascertained; connexion with the passage translated in
quot. 1837 in c below is improbable.
| 1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd i. v, Harke, harke, harke the foule Bird [viz. the screech-owl]..how shee flutters with her wicker wings! 1697 Dryden æneis vii. 478 The Fury..on her wicker Wings, sublime through Night, She to the Latian Palace took her Flight. a 1729 Congreve Imposs. Thing 84 The Goblin plys his wicker wings. |
c. Comb.,
as wicker-bottomed,
wicker-cased,
wicker-covered,
wicker-weaving,
wicker-winged,
wicker-woven adjs.;
wicker-wise adv.| 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede xiv, In the large *wicker-bottomed arm-chair..sat old Martin Poyser. |
| 1870 Dickens E. Drood xii, A goodly *wicker-cased bottle. |
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxx, A *wicker-covered flask. |
| 1920 Chamb. Jrnl. 28 Feb. 205/1 A *wicker-weaving loom. |
| 1837 Wheelwright tr. Aristoph., Birds I. 248 *Wicker-wing'd Diitrephes [Διιτρέϕης γε πυτιναῖα µόνον ἔχων πτερά]. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xii. xiv. I. 367 A quilt or mat made of Date-tree twigs, plaited and wound one within another *wicker-wise. |
| 1859 Boyd Recreat. Country Parson v. 168 The *wicker-woven box. |
▪ II. ˈwicker, v. [f. prec. n.] trans. To furnish, fit, cover, or inclose with wicker. (Chiefly in
pa. pple.: see also
wickered.)
| 1599 B. Jonson Ev. Man out of Hum. i. ii, A mustie bottle, new wickerd. 1670 Milton Hist. Eng. ii. 49 Thir Ships of light timber wickerd with Oysier betweene, and coverd over with Leather. 1838 Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 275/2 Upon this [sc. a surface of dry moss], hurdles..wickered with heath, were laid. 1882 F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs xii, High frames made by planting four bamboos in a square and wickering the top. |
▪ III. wicker variant of
whicker v., to whinny.