whicker, v. dial. and U.S.
(ˈhwɪkə(r))
Also 9 wicker, whecker, whihher.
[Imitative. Cf. nicker, snicker, and MHG. wiheren (G. wiehern).]
1. intr. To utter a half-suppressed laugh; to snigger, titter.
| a 1656 Ussher Ann. vi. (1658) 284 Having never seen the like done before, he fell a whickering. c 1730 Haynes Dorset. Voc. in N. & Q. 6th Ser. (1883) VIII. 45/2 To whicker, to laugh. 1808 Jamieson, Whihher,..to titter. 1891 Hardy Tess l, The green-spangled fairies that ‘whickered’ at you as you passed. |
2. Of a horse: To whinny; also of a sheep or goat, to bleat, of a dog, to whine, etc.
| 1753 J. Poulter Discoveries (ed. 5) 7 The Horse, as soon as the others past began to whicker, so that we were obliged to gag him. 1808 Jamieson, Whihher..to wicker, to neigh or whinny. 1825 Jennings Obs. Dial. W. Eng., To Whecker,..to neigh. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v. Wickery. 1893 Kipling Many Invent. 215 The mare whickered. 1912 Masefield Widow in Bye St. vi. xxxii, The wall-top grasses whickered in the breeze. |
3. To make a sound as of something hurtling through or beating the air.
| 1926 Spectator 28 Aug. 313/2 Bid Jove send down a thunderbolt to whicker through the sky. 1965 G. Maxwell House of Elrig xiii. 167 My aunt's black-and-white nun pigeons whickered past my window and drank at the bird-table. |
So ˈwhicker n., a snigger; a whinny; also, the sound of something beating the air; hence ˈwhickering vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1882 Harper's Mag. June 53 The whicker of old Molly at the foot of the lane, and the answer of the colt in the lot. 1899 Somerville & ‘Ross’ Some Experiences Irish R.M. xi. 277 A pale, yellow foal sprinted up beside us, with shrill whickerings of joy. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny ix, Through the intense silence, he heard the whicker of a horse. 1920 J. Masefield Right Royal 73 Far over his head with a whicker of wings Came a wisp of five snipe from a field full of springs. 1937 E. Sitwell I live under Black Sun i. iii. 48 The door of her room..opened with a dark strawy noise like the wickering voice of a bear. 1940 H. Spring Fame is Spur i. 11 And so great was the silence that the whickering of banners could be heard. 1965 G. Maxwell House of Elrig ii. 27 Black rock cliffs with deep mysterious caves full of the whicker of rock-pigeons' wings. |