wicket

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: wick=et

CIDE DICTIONARY

wicket, n. [OE. wiket, OF. wiket, guichet, F. quichet; probably of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. vk a small creek, inlet, bay, vik a corner.].

•  A small gate or door, especially one forming part of, or placed near, a larger door or gate; a narrow opening or entrance cut in or beside a door or gate, or the door which is used to close such entrance or aperture. Piers Plowman.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  "And so went to the high street, . . . and came to the great tower, but the gate and wicket was fast closed."  [1913 Webster]

  "The wicket, often opened, knew the key."  [1913 Webster]
•  A small gate by which the chamber of canal locks is emptied, or by which the amount of water passing to a water wheel is regulated.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small framework at which the ball is bowled. It consists of three rods, or stumps, set vertically in the ground, with one or two short rods, called bails, lying horizontally across the top.  [1913 Webster]
•  A place of shelter made of the boughs of trees, -- used by lumbermen, etc.  Bartlett.  [1913 Webster]
•  The space between the pillars, in postand-stall working.  Raymond.  [1913 Webster]

Wicket door, Wicket gate, a small door or gate; a wicket. See def. 1, above. Bunyan. -- Wicket keeper (Cricket), the player who stands behind the wicket to catch the balls and endeavor to put the batsman out.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wicket, n.
1 Cricket a a set of three stumps with the bails in position defended by a batsman. b the ground between two wickets. c the state of this (a slow wicket). d an instance of a batsman being got out (bowler has taken four wickets). e a pair of batsmen batting at the same time (a third-wicket partnership).
2 (in full wicket-door or -gate) a small door or gate esp. beside or in a larger one or closing the lower part only of a doorway.
3 US an aperture in a door or wall usu. closed with a sliding panel.
4 US a croquet hoop.

Idiom

at the wicket Cricket
1 batting.
2 by the wicket-keeper (caught at the wicket). keep wicket Cricket be a wicket-keeper. on a good (or sticky) wicket colloq. in a favourable (or unfavourable) position. wicket-keeper Cricket the fieldsman stationed close behind a batsman's wicket.

Etymology

ME f. AF & ONF wiket, OF guichet, of uncert. orig.

THESAURUS

wicket

bay, bay window, bow window, casement, casement window, fan window, fanlight, grille, lancet window, lantern, lattice, light, louver window, oriel, pane, picture window, port, porthole, rose window, skylight, transom, window, window bay, window glass, windowpane

ROGET THESAURUS

wicket

Beginning

N beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation, introduction, alpha, initial, inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation, rising of the curtain, maiden speech, outbreak, onset, brunt, initiative, move, first move, narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge, fresh start, new departure, origin, source, rise, bud, germ, egg, rudiment, genesis, primogenesis, birth, nativity, cradle, infancy, start, inception, creation, starting point, dawn, evolution, title-page, head, heading, van, caption, fatihah, entrance, entry, inlet, orifice, mouth, chops, lips, porch, portal, portico, propylon, door, gate, gateway, postern, wicket, threshold, vestibule, propylaeum, skirts, border, first stage, first blush, first glance, first impression, first sight, rudiments, elements, outlines, grammar, alphabet, ABC, beginning, initial, initiatory, initiative, inceptive, introductory, incipient, proemial, inaugural, inchoate, inchoative, embryonic, rudimental, primogenial, primeval, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, natal, nascent, first, foremost, leading, maiden, begun, just begun, at the beginning, in the beginning first, in the first place, imprimis, first and foremost, in limine, in the bud, in embryo, in its infancy, from the beginning, from its birth, ab initio, ab ovo, ab incunabilis, ab origine, let's get going!, let's get this show on the road!, up and at 'em!, aller Anfang ist schwer, dimidium facti qui coepit habet, omnium rerum principia parva sunt.

Opening

N opening, hole, foramen, puncture, perforation, fontanel, transforation, pinhole, keyhole, loophole, porthole, peephole, mousehole, pigeonhole, eye of a needle, eyelet, slot, opening, aperture, apertness, hiation, yawning, oscitancy, dehiscence, patefaction, pandiculation, chasm, embrasure, window, casement, abatjour, light, sky light, fan light, lattice, bay window, bow window, oriel, dormer, lantern, outlet, inlet, vent, vomitory, embouchure, orifice, mouth, sucker, muzzle, throat, gullet, weasand, wizen, nozzle, placket, portal, porch, gate, ostiary, postern, wicket, trapdoor, hatch, door, arcade, cellarway, driveway, gateway, doorway, hatchway, gangway, lich gate, way, path, thoroughfare, channel, passage, passageway, tube, pipe, water pipe, air pipe, vessel, tubule, canal, gut, fistula, adjutage, ajutage, ostium, smokestack, chimney, flue, tap, funnel, gully, tunnel, main, mine, pit, adit, shaft, gallery, alley, aisle, glade, vista, bore, caliber, pore, blind orifice, fulgurite, thundertube, porousness, porosity, sieve, cullender, colander, cribble, riddle, screen, honeycomb, apertion, perforation, piercing, terebration, empalement, pertusion, puncture, acupuncture, penetration, key, opener, master key, password, combination, passe- partout, open, perforated, perforate, wide open, ajar, unclosed, unstopped, oscitant, gaping, yawning, patent, tubular, cannular, fistulous, pervious, permeable, foraminous, vesicular, vasicular, porous, follicular, cribriform, honeycombed, infundibular, riddled, tubulous, tubulated, piped, tubate, opening, aperient, Int, open sesame!.