▪ I. sickle, n.
(ˈsɪk(ə)l)
Forms: α. 1 sicul, sicol, sicel, 3–5 sikel, 4 sikil, sikul(le, 6 sikell; 4 sykel, 5 sykelle, sykyl, sykol, 6 sykyll; 4 sekil, 5 sekelle, -ylle, zekill; 6 sick-, sikk-, sykkell; 4 sygle, 6–7 sicle; 6 syckle, 7 siccle, 6– sickle. β. 5 cykylle, 5 cikle, 6–7 cickle, 7–8 cycle.
[OE. sicol, sicel, = MDu. sek-, sik-, sykele, siccle, sickele (Du. sikkel), MLG. sekele (LG. sekel), OHG. sichila (G. sichel; cf. Flem. zichel, † sichel); also MSw. sikil, MDa. sig(h)il (Da. segel). It is not certain that the word can be regarded as an early adoption of the Campanian L. secula, f. secāre to cut.]
1. a. An agricultural implement similar in form and use to a reaping-hook, but properly distinguished from this by having a serrated cutting-edge.
| α a 1000 in Wr.-Wülcker 234 Falx,..rifter, vel sicul. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark iv. 29 He sent his sicol forþam þæt rip æt is. a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia IX. 263 Siðe, sicol, weodhoc. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 825 Þu schalt setten sikel forð. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 312 A luyte rondel ase a sikel Men seoth þar-on liȝt. c 1340 Nominate (Skeat) 527 Sarcle, faux et faucil, Wedehoke, sythe and sikulle. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 306 But if he do it smythye In-to sikul or to sithe, to schare or to kulter. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 455/2 Sykyl, falcillus, falcicula. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxix. 163 A croked yron made after the facion of a zekill. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §28 A hande-rake..in the lyfte hande, and a syckle in the ryghte hande. 1542 Hen. VIII Decl. Causes War w. Scots C iv, As trew as the allegation of hym that is burnte in the hande, to saye he was cut with a sikell. 1600 Nashe Summers Last Will & Test. 871 Roome for the sithe and the siccles there. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 332 A Sickle, a toothed Reap-hook. 1750 Gray Elegy 25 Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield. 1796 Campaigns 1793–4 II. x. 69 The peasants were preparing to put the sickle to the grain. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 50 The scythes and the sickles of the present day differ hardly at all from those in use nearly a thousand years ago. 1856 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 10/1 The saw-edged sickle, the smooth-edged hook, and the heavy sickle employed in cutting beans. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1898 The reaping-hook..has no teeth, and this distinguishes it from the sickle. |
| β c 1440 Promp. Parv. 77/1 Cykylle, fassilla vel fassicula. 1497 Naval Acc. Henry VII (1896) 88 Cikles, vdd. di.; Sithes, vj. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Falces messoriæ, cickles: siethes. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 244 Messana was at the first called Zancle, of the crookednesse of the place, which signifieth a cycle. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 292 Chase evil spirits away by dint Of Cickle, Horseshoo, Hollow-flint. 1791 T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scot. 410 The poor native..gathers the short and scanty grass with his cycle, or hook. |
b. fig. or in figurative contexts.
| 1596 Spenser State Irel. (Globe) 680/1 Godes harvest..is even readye for the sickle. 1602 Dekker Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 103 For all Times sickle has gone ouer you, you are Orlando still. 1658 Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 208 Be it your care to reserve a sickle for your own harvest. 1718 Free-thinker No. 23. 163 Labourers of every Kind may find Room to put in a Sickle. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 194 Each Moment has its sickle, emulous Of Time's enormous scythe. 1825 Macaulay Ess., Milton (1897) 6 In the vast field of criticism on which we are entering, innumerable reapers have already put their sickles. 1868 H. Law Beacons of Bible (1869) 148 Wrath's sickle will do its work. |
2. Something having the curved or crescent form of a sickle, in various special applications.
† a. An ornamental design in metal-work or embroidery.
† b. An ancient military siege-implement (L.
falx).
c. A form of spur or gaff for a fighting-cock.
d. A tail-feather of a cock.
e. An instrument used in lacquering.
| 1459 in Somerset Med. Wills (1901) 188 [Two silver gilt basins] pounced [with knots of] sykols. Ibid. 189 [Two] Auter clothes [with one] frountell..[with divers] Compassis [of] sikels [curiously embroidered]. 1472 in Wilts. Archæol. Mag. XI. (1868) 337 A paire of cruettis of silver and gilte, w{supt}{suph} knottes of sikels. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 491 So also doth the Ram sometime put forth the sicle, and sometime pull it in, and hide it within the frame. c 1710 in Ashton Soc. Life Q. Anne I. 301 A single battle fought with Sickles, after the East India manner. Ibid., One Cock with a Sickle, and 4 Cocks with fair Spurs. 1882 N. Middlesex Adv. 7 July 3/2 Against the insertion of false sickles..the judge of Hamburgs and bantams has..to be on his guard, a good tail..being of special importance in competition. 1884 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Rec. Ser. iii. 309/1 The tapper then goes round provided with the..scraping sickle. |
f. Applied to the crescent moon, etc.
| 1657 W. Rand tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc ii. 128 That secondary and weak light, which the Moon showes, besides her silver Sickle, within her Quarter. 1847 Tennyson Princ. i. 100 Ere the silver sickle of that month Became her golden shield. 1875 Longfellow Amalfi vii, Far away Sweeps the blue Salernian bay With its sickle of white sand. |
g. (With capital initial.) A group of stars in the constellation Leo.
| 1882 in Ogilvie. 1885 Sir R. S. Ball Story of Heavens xviii. 383 The Sickle is specially famous..as containing the radiant point from which the periodic shooting star shower known as the Leonids diverges. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
sickle-blade,
sickle-maker,
sickle-man,
sickle-manufacturer,
sickle-sweep,
sickle-teeth.
| 1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 166 Its long, drooping pods..resemble a *sickle blade, or rather a curved sword blade. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 328/1 A *sekylle maker, falcarius. 1619 Canterbury Marr. Licences (MS.), Lancelot Symans of Horsmonden, sicklemaker. |
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 135 You Sun-burn'd *Sicklemen of August weary. 1821 Shelley Hellas 249 Yet the harvest to the sicklemen Is as a grain to each. 1855 Singleton Virgil I. 18 The seasons which the sickleman..should observe. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Sickle-manufacturer, a maker of sickles. |
| 1897 Crockett Lochinvar xxix. 261 Green flats of sparse grass, terminating in sweet *sickle-sweeps of yellow sand. |
| 1897 R. Munro Prehist. Prob. 330 He discusses the peculiarities of the structure of *sickle-teeth. |
b. Similative, as
sickle-billed,
sickle-houghed,
sickle-pinioned,
sickle-shaped,
sickle-winged;
sickle-like,
sickle-wise.
| 1782 Latham Gen. Synop. Birds I. ii. 705 *Sickle-billed Creeper... Bill an inch and three quarters in length, curved like a sickle. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 75 Sickle-billed Thrush. Californian Mockingbird. 1884 Ibid. 523 Rostrhamus, Sickle-billed Kites. |
| 1607 Markham Caval. iii. (1617) 15 To bee (as some tearme it) *sickle-hought behinde, that is somwhat crooked in the cambrell ioynt, as Hares and Greyhounds are, is not amisse. |
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 64 *Sickle-like tail-feathers. 1874 Wood Nat. Hist. 287 The close-set plumage of the Swallow tribe, their long sickle-like wings. |
| 1763 Phil. Trans. LIII. 419 There were still remaining several of the suckers..disposed along its *sickle-shaped Pinnulæ. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis vi, The sickle-shaped moon is growing every instant brighter in the heavens. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 351 A strongly-curved..vascular plate, sickle-shaped in cross-section. |
| 1870 Gillmore tr. Figuier's Reptiles & Birds 468 Among the more remarkable species we may note..the *Sickle-winged Humming-bird. |
| 1876 Lanier Clover 100 And curls it, sharp, And *sicklewise, about my poets' heads. |
4. Special combs., as
† sickle-bear, an epithet of the god Saturn;
sickle-bill Ornith. (see
quots.);
† sickle-boon, tenant-service rendered by reaping (see
boon n.1 6);
sickle-feather (see
quots.);
sickle-ham,
-hough (see
quot. and
sickle-houghed in 3 b);
sickle-moon, the crescent moon (
cf. 2 b);
sickle-oyster (see
quot.);
sickle-pea, a variety of pea having a curved pod;
sickle-pod, an American species of rock-cress;
sickle scaler Dentistry, an instrument with a curved blade for removing scale from teeth;
sickle-tedder, a workman who cuts the teeth in a sickle.
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. 385 Thou, rich, benign, Ill-chasing Jupiter, Art (worthy) next thy Father *sickle-bear. |
| 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 262 Numenius, Long-billed Curlew. *Sickle-bill. 1880 Cassell's Nat. Hist. IV. 21 All of these have a long curved bill, and include..the Sickle-bills (Drepanornis and Epimachus). |
| 1438 Add. Roll 41659 (MS.), Reddit per annum v. s. iiii d, iiii *sikilbons et i [hay]bone. Ibid., xx d. tres ob. for hys sekylbone. 1546 Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) 290 To John Hunt for sicle bonez, ijs. |
| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 251/1 The Cocks..tail consists all of crooked bending feathers (*Sickle Feathers as some call them). 1849 D. J. Browne Amer. Poultry Yd. (1855) 25 The sickle feathers of the tail are perhaps equally characteristic of the genus. |
| 1799 Sporting Mag. XIV. 186 *Sickle-hams or *sickle-houghs, in horses, may be compared to knock or nap-knees in men. |
| 1875 Ruskin Hortus Inclusus (1887) 42 Bright morning. *Sickle moon just hiding in a red cloud. |
| 1758 Phil. Trans. I. 526 Small oblong oysters, which the workmen call the *sickle-oyster, some of them being found crooked. |
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Pisum, The *Sickle Pea is much more common in Holland than in England. 1763 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. IV. 109 The Sickle pea, or Sugar pea, which is much cultivated in several foreign countries. 1856 Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 576 Varieties of Field Peas... White Sickle. |
| 1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 166 *Sickle Pod... A plant remarkable for its long, drooping pods. |
| 1930 W. H. O. McGehee Text-bk. Operative Dentistry 930/2 (Index), *Sickle scalers. 1956 H. M. Goldman et al. Periodontal Therapy v. 94 The sickle scaler has a blade with two or four cutting edges. 1962 Blake & Trott Periodontology x. 97 Fine sickle scalers are used for subgingival scaling. |
| 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 56 There is a peculiarity in the handling of his hammer and chisel by a *sickle tedder. |
▪ II. † ˈsickle, a. Obs. Forms: 3
sikel, 5
sikkil, 6
sickil,
sickle; 5
seckle,
sekkul,
sekyl,
seekle.
[f. sick v. + -le 1.] Sickly.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 466 Heore beire broþur lazarus was swyþe sikel a man. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. Tab. 269 Olyuys, sikkil, to hele in Marche. Ibid. xi. 139 The tendir plaunte is take anoon,..and sekkul beth the grete ysette. c 1475 Cath. Angl. (MS. A) 327/2 A Sekylman, valitudinarius. 1570 Levins Manip. 121 Sickle, valetudinarius. |
▪ III. † ˈsickle, v.1 Obs. Forms: 1
siclian, 1–2
sæclian, 3
sæclen,
secli, 4
seccle.
[f. sick a. + -le 3.] intr. To be or fall ill, to sicken.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 151 Diu egrotat, lange he siclaþ. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1066, Ða wæs Leofric abbot of Burh æt þæt ilca feord & sæclode þær & com ham. 1154 Ibid. an. 1154, Þa sæclede he & ward ded. c 1205 Lay. 30549 Þa iwarð þe king þere isæcled ful swiðe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 50 Leste..oure soule secli so sone heo is ute. c 1350 Will. Palerne 575 Sche..seccleled in a seknesse. |
▪ IV. sickle, v.2 (
ˈsɪk(ə)l)
[f. sickle n.: cf. sickled ppl. a. b, sickling1.] 1. trans. To cut with a sickle. Also
absol.| 1922 J. Masefield Dream 13 All golden ripe and ready to be shorn By sickling sunburnt reapers singing staves. 1927 H. E. Fosdick Pilgrimage to Palestine i. 4 The harvesters were sickling golden grain on the Shephelah hills. 1971 Country Life 2 Dec. 1501/1 The English labourer sickles his corn in August, the French labourer has it in by that time. |
2. Path. a. intr. Of red blood cells: to become crescent- or sickle-shaped. Of blood: to exhibit sickling.
| 1923 Amer. Jrnl. Dis. Children XXVI. 133 The blood of the father..was normal on being drawn, but ‘sickled’ after standing for variable periods of time at room temperature. 1946 Lancet 10 Aug. 204/1 Severely anæmic blood always sickles far more readily than blood which is not anæmic. 1970 R. W. McGilvery Biochem. iv. 75 Even the cells of heterozygotes will sickle if the oxygen tension is low enough. 1981 Sci. Amer. Mar. 117/1 After cyanate treatment and washing, the AS cells remained competent as hosts for P. falciparum, but now they did not sickle as readily. |
b. trans. To cause to sickle.
| 1977 Lancet 20 Aug. 411/1 The desickling agent..reacts with red cells which had been deoxygenated and sickled with sodium metabisulphite. |