hickey

or hick·ie

[hik-ee]

noun, plural hick·eys.

Slang.
1. a pimple.
2. a reddish mark left on the skin by a passionate kiss.
any device or gadget whose name is not known or is momentarily forgotten.
Electricity. a fitting used to mount a lighting fixture in an outlet box or on a pipe or stud.

a tool used to bend tubes and pipes.

Origin of hickey

1905–10; Americanism; of obscure origin; senses under def. 1 perhaps a separate word, though the development “device > defective device > defect, blemish, mark” is also possible; cf. doohickey

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for hickie

Historical Examples of hickie

Kekewich and Hickie had combined their forces at the beginning of February.
The Great Boer War
Arthur Conan Doyle
In fact, but for the interest taken by General Hickie it would have been impossible.
The Irish on the Somme
Michael MacDonagh
Cuthbert, seedy, was relieved by Hickie in command of the 13th Brigade to-day.
The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade
Edward Lord Gleichen

British Dictionary definitions for hickie

hickey

noun

US and Canadian informal an object or gadget: used as a name when the correct name is forgotten, etc; doodah
US and Canadian informal a mark on the skin, esp a lovebite
printing a spot on a printed sheet caused by an imperfection or a speck on the printing plate

Word Origin for hickey

C20: of unknown origin

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

Word Origin and History for hickie

"love bite; mark on skin made by biting or sucking during foreplay or sex," 1934; earlier "pimple, skin lesion" (c.1915); perhaps a sense extension and spelling variation from earlier word meaning "small gadget, device; any unspecified object" (1909, cf. doohickey, still used in this sense).

hickey

see hickie.