Wick sb.²

Now only local. Forms: 1–3 wic, 3–4, 7 wike, 4 wik, 4–5 wyk, 4–5, 8–9 wyke, 6–7 wicke, 7 week, 7– wick. [OE. wíc m., f. = OFris. wîk f., OS. wîc m. dwelling-place, house, MLG. wîk f., n. town, place, MDu. wijc m. district, (Du. wijk f. quarter, district, ward, WFris. wyk), OHG. wîch str. m. dwelling-place, town, MHG. wîch in wîkbilethe civic rights, wichbilde (G. weichbild) precinct and jurisdiction of a town, wîchgrave recorder; app. ad. L. vīcus row of houses, quarter of a city, street, village (cognate with Gr. οἶκος house, etc., Goth. weihs village).]

  † 1.  An abode, dwelling, dwelling-place (in general). Obs.

Beowulf, 1125. Ʒewiton him ða wiʓend wica neosian.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. iii. Þa ʓelomp sume daʓe, þæt he wæs in þæm foresprecenan wicum mid ane breðer wuniende, þæs noma wæs Owine.

a. 1000.  Cædmon’s Gen., 1812. Ðær ræsbora þraʓe siððan wicum wunode & wilna breac.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 8512. Josæp … bærenn ure Laferrd Crist … Fra land to land, fra tun to tun, Fra wic to wic i tune.

c. 1205.  Lay., 7786. In to France he wende & sette his wike.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 604. Ich can loki monne wike & mine wike beoþ wel gode.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2090. Asie to sem, to cham affrik, To Iaphet europ, þat wil-ful wike.

c. 1300.  Harrow. Hell, 177. Louerd god, ȝef vs leue,… To faren of þis loþe wyke To þe blisse of heueneryke.

  2.  A town, village or hamlet. Obs. or dial. (Survives as an element of place-names in both forms, -wich and -wick, the local distribution of which presents difficulties.)

  971.  Blickl. Hom., 77. He cwæþ: ‘Gaþ on þa wic þe beforan inc stondeð.’

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Mark viii. 23. & þa æthran he þæs blindan hand & lædde hine butan þa wic.

c. 1205.  Lay., 31960. His biweddede wil weore on þere ilke wike.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7917. Þar was wonand wit-in a wike, Tua men a pouer and a rike.

c. 1350.  in Rel. Ant., II. 93. The toun Off Cauntyrbery, that noble wyke.

  1600.  Holland, Livy, XXXIV. xxii. 866. The rest abandoned the warre, and slipt … into their owne wickes and villages.

[1885.  E. Law, Hampton Crt. Pal., 12, note. As a popular equivalent for the word village, the expressions ‘going to the Wick’ [i.e., Hampton Wick], and ‘living at the Wick,’ being constantly heard among the older inhabitants.]

  3.  A farm; spec. a dairy farm. Now local.

1086.  Domesday Bk., Berks., 58 b. Wica de .x. pensis caseorum ualentes .XXXII. sol. & .IIII. den.

1467–8.  Rolls of Parlt., V. 585/1. A dayery, otherwise called a Wyk, called Dangebrigge.

1594.  [see DAIRY sb. 3].

1598.  Stow, Surv., 171. In diuers countries, Dayrie houses or cottages, wherein they make butter and cheese, are vsually called Wickes.

1607.  Camden, Brit., 318. Caseos ouillos conficere in casearijs illis tuguriolis quæ ibi [i.e., in Essex] Wiches [sic] vocant, vidimus.

1628.  Coke, On Litt., 5. A fearme in the North parts is called a Tacke, in Lancashire a Fermeholt, in Essex a Wike.

1641.  Surv. Plesheybury Manor, Essex, fol. a^v (MS.). Berwick quasi Berrywick, for it is supposed that auntiently it was a dairy wick or ferme to High Ester Bury.

1701.  Kennett, Cowel’s Interpr., Wica, a Country House or Farm, of which many a one is now call’d the Wike, and the Wick.

a. 1825.  Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Wick.… A few instances may be produced in which it means a farm. There is one at a short distance from the town of Walton, commonly called Watton-wick, but by the inhabitants, simply the Wick.

1879.  Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 126. Wick Farm—almost every village has its outlying wick—stands alone in the fields.

  † 4.  An enclosed piece of ground, a close. local.

1301.  Rolls of Parlt., I. 259/2. Apud Lex[eden] in Wyka que vocatur Arnodynes Wyk.

a. 1461[?].  Stonor Papers (Camden), I. 55. Ȝe have yn Bysschopyston the iij part of a close callyd Bondmannys Wyke, and yn on othere callyd Hanketes Wyke.

1631.  Terrier of Masworth Rectory (MS.). A close of pasture ground called y^e Parsonidge Wick.

1635.  Survey of Masworth Parish (MS.). The close called Three Wicks.

1680.  Terrier of Masworth Vicarage (MS.). One other close or wick … called Blockwicks … a wick called Pound Wick.

1811.  Masworth Parish Enclosure Award (MS.). An old enclosure called Meadow Wick.

  † 5.  Comb.: wick-master, ? a mayor or burgomaster; wic-reeve, modernization of OE. wícʓerefa, a town-reeve.

1587.  Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1337/2. Behind them went the bodie of the citie, that is to wit, the *wickemasters, the wardens, the ancient magistrate, the masters of the wardes, the boroughmasters [etc.].

1853.  J. Stevenson, Ch. Hist. Eng., I. 233. Beornulf, *wic-reeve of Winchester.