creel
Americannoun
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a wickerwork basket worn on the back or suspended from the shoulder, used especially by anglers for carrying fish.
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a basket made of wicker or other material, for holding fish, lobsters, etc.
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a trap for fish, lobsters, etc., especially one made of wicker.
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a framework, especially one for holding bobbins in a spinning machine.
noun
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a wickerwork basket, esp one used to hold fish
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a wickerwork trap for catching lobsters, etc
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the framework on a spinning machine that holds the bobbins
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dialect a wooden frame suspended from a ceiling, used for drying clothes
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.
Vocabulary lists containing creel
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
Investigators said Mr Wilson, who lived in St Abbs, accidentally entered the water at 07:36 while creel fishing on his vessel, Harriet J.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2023
Mark Elder, 26, from Thurso, died when his leg became caught in a rope on the creel boat he was working on and he was pulled overboard.
From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2023
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.
