cricket
nounnounverbnouncommon in dialogue
- Australia//ˈkɹɪkɪt//
- New Zealand//ˈkɹək.kət//
- Scotland//ˈkɾɪkɪt//
An insect in the order Orthoptera, especially family Gryllidae, that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wing casings against combs on its hind legs.
noun
- 1
An insect in the order Orthoptera, especially family Gryllidae, that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wing casings against combs on its hind legs.
- 2
slangAn insect in the order Orthoptera, especially family Gryllidae, that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wing casings against combs on its hind legs. In the form crickets: absolute silence; no communication.
- 3
A signalling device used by soldiers in hostile territory to identify themselves to a friendly in low visibility conditions.
- 4
slangAn aural warning sound consisting of a continuously-repeating chime, designed to be difficult for pilots to ignore.
Etymology
From Middle English creket, crykett, crykette, from Old French criket (with diminutive -et) from criquer (“to make a cracking sound; creak”), from Middle Dutch kricken (“to creak; crack”), from Proto-West Germanic *krakōn, related to Middle English creken, criken (“to creak”), all ultimately of imitative origin. Compare Dutch kriek (“cricket”), Middle Dutch krikel, criekel, crekel (“cricket”) (with diminituve -el), Middle Low German krikel, krekel (“cricket”), German Kreckel (“cricket”). More at creak.
noun
- 1
A game played outdoors with bats and a ball between two teams of eleven, popular in England and many Commonwealth countries.
Look, that's a lovely sound, isn't it? The bat against the ball. Very English. Oh, yes, long summer afternoons spent in peace and harmony. I always say that, if Jesus had played a sport, I'm sure it would have been cricket.
- 2
An act that is fair and sportsmanlike.
Robbins went on, "Henry wouldn't do anything that wasn't cricket. Me, I was raised in a river ward and I'm not bothered by niceties. […]
- 3
A variant of the game of darts. See Cricket (darts).
Etymology
Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met de krik ketsen (“to chase a ball with a curved stick”).
verb
- 1
rareTo play the game of cricket.
Judge: Your family is in destitute circumstances. How do you get your living? Bannerman: By cricketing, your Worship.
noun
- 1
A wooden footstool.
Heawe’er I pood o Cricket, on keaw’rt meh deawn ith Nook, o side oth' Hob
- 2
A relatively small area of a roof constructed to divert water from a horizontal intersection of the roof with a chimney, wall, expansion joint, or other projection.
Etymology
The etymology is unknown. A few similar words exist in Germanic languages, such as Norwegian krakk (“stool”).
Forms
- plural
- crickets
- past tense
- cricketed
- past participle
- cricketed
- present participle
- cricketing
- third person singular
- crickets
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