sick
adjectivenounverbverbtop 1 000 in film dialogue
- //ˈsɪk//
In poor health; ill.
adjective
- 1
In poor health; ill.
We have to care for the sick.
Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.
‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’
- 2
In poor health; ill. [with with] Afflicted by (a specific condition, usually medical).
She was sick all day with the flu.
sick with a cold—sick with contagious diseases—sick with sciatica—sick with love—sick with worry
- 3
Having an urge to vomit.
My daughter was violently sick three times in the night.
In the meantime the old man had gotten up and gone out in the yard and began to vomit. Henry said I believe I feel sick and got up and went out. He went out one door and his father went out the other one. I did not think there was anything wrong with the coffee and I asked my wife to pour this out […]
Q. Didn't he complain he was sick before he commenced to vomit? A. He did, just before he said, to me, “I feel sick,” I asked him if he wanted to throw up and he said yes.
[…] trying hard to cry. Crying’s good. Crying teaches him to breathe. But I wish he weren’t crying from hunger. I feel dizzy. I sit down and feel a little sick. Maybe I’ll vomit, too. No, to never vomit. I feel sick, but I won’t vomit. I never vomit.
- 4
Mentally unstable, disturbed.
You sick bastard!
What a sick, sick feeling / To let you go, my dear
- 5
In bad taste.
That’s a sick joke.
- 6
[with of] Tired of or annoyed by (something that has lasted a long time or often recurs).
sick and tired of the whining—sick of waiting—'sick of politics
I’ve heard that song on the radio so many times that I’m starting to get sick of it.
I’m so sick of that same old love, the kind that breaks your heart.
- 7
slangVery good, excellent, awesome, badass.
This tune is sick.
He showed off his sick surfing skills.
Dude, this car's got a sick subwoofer!
- 8
In poor condition.
sick building syndrome; my car is looking pretty sick; my job prospects are pretty sick
- 9
Failing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.
Etymology
From Middle English sik, sike, seek, seke, seok, from Old English sēoc (“sick, ill”), from Proto-West Germanic *seuk, from Proto-Germanic *seukaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sewg- (“to be troubled or grieved”). See also West Frisian siik, Dutch ziek, German siech, Norwegian Bokmål syk, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish sjuk, Danish syg; also Middle Irish socht (“silence, depression”), Old Armenian հիւծանիմ (hiwcanim, “to be weakening”). The "very good, excellent" sense is an ameliorative semantic shift from the original sense of "in poor health". Compare similar semantic development in terrific and wicked.
noun
- 1
Vomit.
[…] they're spitting and belching chunks of lentilly gunk. Looks like sick.
The bogan, true to form, laps it up like a dog does its own sick.
- 2
(especially in the phrases on the sick and on long-term sick) Any of various current or former benefits or allowances paid by the Government to support the sick, disabled or incapacitated.
verb
- 1
To vomit.
I woke up at 4 am and sicked on the floor.
- 2
To fall sick; to sicken.
Our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.
Old man to pickney, so wave unno hand if you with me /To see the sufferation sick me.
verb
- 1
Variant of sicrareAlternative spelling of sic (“set upon”).
"Wapi," she almost screamed, "go back! Sick 'em, Wapi—sick 'em—sick 'em—sick 'em!"
When we were at work swabbing the deck, necessarily barelegged, Pelle would sick the dog on us; and it was an endless source of pleasure to him when the dog succeeded in fastening its teeth in our legs and making the blood run down our ankles.
1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey, 1991 LB Books edition, page 154, "...is just something God sicks on people who have the gall to accuse Him of having created an ugly world."
2001 (publication date), Anna Heilman, Never Far Away: The Auschwitz Chronicles of Anna Heilman, University of Calgary Press, →ISBN, page 82, Now they find a new entertainment: they sick the dog on us.
Etymology
Variant of sic, itself an alteration of seek.
Forms
- comparative
- sicker
- superlative
- sickest
- past tense
- sicked
- past participle
- sicked
- present participle
- sicking
- third person singular
- sicks