hickey
Americannoun
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Slang.
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a pimple.
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a reddish mark left on the skin by a passionate kiss.
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any device or gadget whose name is not known or is momentarily forgotten.
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Electricity. a fitting used to mount a lighting fixture in an outlet box or on a pipe or stud.
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a tool used to bend tubes and pipes.
noun
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informal an object or gadget: used as a name when the correct name is forgotten, etc; doodah
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informal a mark on the skin, esp a lovebite
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printing a spot on a printed sheet caused by an imperfection or a speck on the printing plate
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hickey
An dating from 1905–10 of obscure origin; senses under hickey def. 1 perhaps a separate word, though the development “device,” from “defective device,” from “defect, blemish, mark” is also possible; cf. doohickey
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.
“Open to multiple interpretations” and “left deliberately ambiguous,” as Mr. Hickey notes, the series is being presented in its entirety—17 episodes—by the Criterion Channel.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 30, 2026
The recent rally in Japanese stocks has been fueled in part by “corporate reform” and the “very pro-business” stance of Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke, said by phone.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 25, 2026
“It’s a great example of what we’ve been trying to do,” said Rich Hickey, Moonbug’s chief creative officer, referring to the episode.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026
Eventually the loss of Jurgen Locadio, the hulking forward who walked in the 38th minute after an elbow on Aaron Hickey, told.
From BBC • May 30, 2026
True to form, the Durham police focused on the protest’s white participants, assuming them to be the ringleaders, and arrested Carl Hickey, a twenty-one-year-old Duke Divinity School student, and Gordon Carey.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
