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Synonyms

creel

American  
[kreel] / kril /

noun

  1. a wickerwork basket worn on the back or suspended from the shoulder, used especially by anglers for carrying fish.

  2. a basket made of wicker or other material, for holding fish, lobsters, etc.

  3. a trap for fish, lobsters, etc., especially one made of wicker.

  4. a framework, especially one for holding bobbins in a spinning machine.

creel British  
/ kriːl /

noun

  1. a wickerwork basket, esp one used to hold fish

  2. a wickerwork trap for catching lobsters, etc

  3. the framework on a spinning machine that holds the bobbins

  4. dialect a wooden frame suspended from a ceiling, used for drying clothes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of creel

1275–1325; Middle English crele, of uncertain origin

Explanation

The basket used to hold a fish after it's caught is a creel. When you head out with your fishing pole to catch something for dinner, be sure to remember your creel! Creel has a Scottish origin, and it originally meant "a basket for carrying on the back." The earliest fishing creels were made of wicker, and most of them still are today. Sometimes an angler will keep the fish cool inside the creel by lining it with moss and dipping it in a river or creek. This word is also used to mean "lobster trap," most commonly in Scotland.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Oban in Argyll also builds a creel tree as part of the town's winter festival.

From BBC • Dec. 3, 2025

Scientists who examined the carcass said it was tightly wrapped in creel rope.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2025

Entanglements can involve creel fishing gear or ghost gear - rope and nets that have been lost or abandoned by fishing boats.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2025

Following a biopsy, cancer was found on the right side of the creel fisherman and Airbnb owner's prostate.

From BBC • Dec. 13, 2024

One Saturday morning, Mother looked up from her sewing as I was running out the front door, one of Granddaddy’s butterfly nets and his old fishing creel slung over my shoulder.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.