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. wícan 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. (= 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, trans. 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. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), I. 33. The wickers of the [lobster] pots.
1899. 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 wth 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. 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. a. 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. T. 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; connection 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, -cased, -covered, -weaving, -winged, -woven adjs.; wicker-wise adv.
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam 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, trans. 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.
