Now only dial. Forms: 4–5, 7 wyke, 6, 8–9 wike, 7 weeke, 8– week, 9 wick, Sc. weik. [a. ON. vik, as in munnvik (Da. mundvig) corner of the mouth; f. wÇk- to bend (cf. WEEK sb., WICK sb.4, WOKE).]
1. A corner of the mouth or eye.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1572. Þe froþe femed at his mouth vnfayre bi þe wykez.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1690. Faxe fyltered, & felt flosed hym vrbe, Þat schad fro his schulderes to his schyre wykes.
1483. Cath. Angl., 417/2. A Wyke of ye eghe…, hirquus.
1570. Levins, Manip., 122/24. Ye Wike of the eye, hirquus.
1607. Markham, Cavel., I. 82. To make some expert Horse farrier, to slit vp the weekes of your Horses mouth, equallie on both sides … with a sharpe raysor.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 14. A greate parte of theire meat, whiles that they are chewinge of it, workes forth of the wykes of their mouthe.
1709. M. Bruce, Soul-Confirm., 18 (Jam.). We will let them ken that we will hing by the wicks of the mouth for the least point of truth.
1721. W. Gibson, Dieting Horses, viii. (1726), 128. If the Bit be too long or too short, it will injure the Horse’s Mouth, and cut his Weeks.
c. 1730. Ramsay, Fables, xviii. 14. To weed out ilka sable hair … Frae crown of head to weeks of mouth.
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., Wikes or Wikers (of the mouth), corners of the mouth.
a. 1835. Hogg, Tales, Hunt of Eildon (1837), III. 14. [He] now and then cast a sly look-out at the wick of his eye.
2. In full wick-tooth: see quot. 1726.
1726. A. Monro, Anat. Bones, 171. The Two inferior [Canini] are named angular or Wike-teeth, because they support the Angles of the Mouth.
1759. H. Walpole, Lett. to Earl of Strafford, 13 Sept. This noble summer is not yet over with us—it seems to have cut a colt’s week [cf. COLT sb. 8 b].
Hence Wicking (wyking), corner of the mouth.
1604. Mem., in N. & Q., 3rd Ser. III. 445/2. Her eyes stod in the wykinges of her mouth.
1886. S. W. Linc. Gloss., Weekin, s., the corner of the mouth.
