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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

rick.

Straw, hay etc. stored in a stack for winter fodder, commonly protected with thatch.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ɹɪk/UK
  1. Straw, hay etc. stored in a stack for winter fodder, commonly protected with thatch.

  2. A stack of wood, especially cut to a regular length; also used as a measure of wood, typically four by eight feet.

    US
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *rykke, from Old English hrycce (“rick, heap, pile”), cognate with Scots ruk (“rick”), Norwegian ruka (“rick, haystack”). Related also to Old English hrēac (“rick, stack”), from Proto-Germanic *hraukaz (“heap”). Further relations: Dutch rook, Icelandic hraukur, Irish cruach. Doublet of croagh.

verb/ɹɪk/UK
  1. To heap up (hay, etc.) in ricks.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English *rykke, from Old English hrycce (“rick, heap, pile”), cognate with Scots ruk (“rick”), Norwegian ruka (“rick, haystack”). Related also to Old English hrēac (“rick, stack”), from Proto-Germanic *hraukaz (“heap”). Further relations: Dutch rook, Icelandic hraukur, Irish cruach. Doublet of croagh.

verb/ɹɪk/UK
  1. To slightly sprain or strain the neck, back, ankle etc; to wrench.

  2. To pierce with a hook by means of a sudden jerk or pull.

    dialectal · transitive
Where this word comes from

From earlier wrick, from Middle English wricken, wrikken (“to move back and forth”), probably from Middle Dutch *verwricken or Middle Low German vorwricken. Cognate with West Frisian wrikke, wrikje, Dutch wrikken, Low German wricken, German wricken, Danish vrikke, Swedish vricka.

noun/ɹɪk/UK
  1. A sharp or sudden move; a jerk or tug.

    dialectal
Where this word comes from

From earlier wrick, from Middle English wricken, wrikken (“to move back and forth”), probably from Middle Dutch *verwricken or Middle Low German vorwricken. Cognate with West Frisian wrikke, wrikje, Dutch wrikken, Low German wricken, German wricken, Danish vrikke, Swedish vricka.

verb/ɹɪk/UK
  1. To rattle, jingle, make a noise; to chatter.

    dialectal · intransitive
  2. To grumble.

    dialectal · intransitive
  3. To scold.

    dialectal · transitive
  4. To raffle.

    dialectal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *rikken (attested only as palatised variant Middle English richen (“to pull, tug; to move, proceed, run; to twist, turn”)), from Old Norse rykkja (“to move, rock, throw”), from Proto-Germanic *rukkijaną (“to rock, move”). Cognate with English rock. Possibly merged with Middle English wrikken (“to move to and fro, move back and forth”), see Etymology 2 above.

noun/ɹɪk/UK
  1. A noise, rattling.

    dialectal · intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *rikken (attested only as palatised variant Middle English richen (“to pull, tug; to move, proceed, run; to twist, turn”)), from Old Norse rykkja (“to move, rock, throw”), from Proto-Germanic *rukkijaną (“to rock, move”). Cognate with English rock. Possibly merged with Middle English wrikken (“to move to and fro, move back and forth”), see Etymology 2 above.

noun/ɹɪk/UK
  1. A new and naive boot camp inductee.

    No turning back now, rick: you are the property of the US government now.
Where this word comes from

Abbreviated form from recruit.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.