rick
noun
Also a large, usually rectangular stack or pile of hay, straw, corn, or the like, in a field, especially when thatched or covered by a tarpaulin; an outdoor or makeshift mow.
rick
1 American
[rik]
/ rɪk /
noun
-
ricks
plural
-
Chiefly Midland U.S. Also a large, usually rectangular stack or pile of hay, straw, corn, or the like, in a field, especially when thatched or covered by a tarpaulin; an outdoor or makeshift mow.
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a stack of cordwood or logs cut to even lengths.
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a frame of horizontal bars and vertical supports, as used to hold barrels in a distillery, boxes in a warehouse, etc.
verb (used with object)
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to form grain into a stack or pile.
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to stack (cordwood) in ricks.
rick
2
American
[rik]
/ rɪk /
verb (used with or without object)
Rick
3
American
[rik]
/ rɪk /
noun
rick
1
British
/ rɪk /
noun
verb
rick
2
British
/ rɪk /
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of rick
before 900; Middle English rek ( e ), reek, Old English hrēac; akin to Old Norse hraukr, Old Frisian reak, Middle Dutch rooc, roke
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.
See Examples For:
Or there are the more hyperspecific suggestions, like this one from a Neptunes knockoff: “a sample of rick james saying ‘shake ya tailfeatha’ would fit on this.”
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2018
BST10:16 15 min: Song makes a bit of a rick inside the centre circle and Newcastle are able to break onto the West Ham back four.
From The Guardian ● May 24, 2015
There’s rick material to be mined in comedy when cultures, on the surface, do not mix.
From Forbes ● Sep. 16, 2013
The best and worst apologies of the week Topics: Trayvon Martin, rick ross, Matt Lauer, David Patraeus, Piers Morgan, George Zimmerman, Doug Gottlieb, Don Young, It has been one sorry excuse for a week.
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2013
Sir Ector stood on the top of a rick, whence he could see what everybody was doing, and shouted commands all over the two-hundred-acre field, and grew purple in the face.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
The clicky videos, the snaking lines of customers, the grandiose launch parties—it echoes similar consumer hype trends of the past, like McDonald’s hyperviral Travis Scott Meal or infamous Rick and Morty–fueled Szechuan Sauce incident.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
“It’s not clear that any of these reforms helped elect more moderates or limit polarization,” said Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UCLA.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, and sports figures such as basketball coaching legend Rick Pitino.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said Friday his administration had spent days preparing the area for the impact of the storm, and urged residents to be ready.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
“I’ll think it over,” Rick said, “and call you back.”
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Down in the tunnels, workers sorted the remains of the dead, filing them by bones into space-efficient ricks and stacks.
From The New Yorker ● May 23, 2019
Burnley’s welcome back to the Premier League ends in encouraging defeat, while Monday Night Football ends an hour later with no obvious ricks or gaffes.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 23, 2014
He never imposes himself on his characters, never plays ricks on them or the reader.
From Time Magazine Archive
In Martinsburg, W. Va., a heifer dropped down between two ricks of straw and subsisted seven weeks without water.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some elm trees shade the ricks, and once now and then a wood-pigeon settles in them for a little while.
From Wild Life in a Southern County by Richard Jefferies
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.
