wicker

[wik-er]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR wicker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a slender, pliant twig; osier; withe.

plaited or woven twigs or osiers as the material of baskets, chairs, etc.; wickerwork.

something made of wickerwork, as a basket.

adjective

consisting or made of wicker: a wicker chair.

covered with wicker: a wicker jug.

Origin of wicker

1300–50; Middle English < Scandinavian; compare dialectal Swedish vikker willow. See weak

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for wicker

Contemporary Examples of wicker

The large bottle is served slightly on its side in a wicker basket so the sediment can sink to the bottom.
Look Out! There’s a Craft-Beer Revolution Taking Over France
Jeff Campagna
December 2, 2013
Could a mind-boggling vendetta be behind the ricin letters sent to Obama and Wicker?
Paul Kevin Curtis and J. Everett Dutschke: Epic Feud and Ricin Letters
Winston Ross
April 25, 2013
A blue suitcase and a wicker basket had been stacked on top of her body.
Does Jeffrey MacDonald Belong in Jail?
Megan McArdle
January 3, 2013
I do not remember Sen. Wicker ever approaching the Democrats in good faith and attempting to build that metaphorical bridge.
An Open Letter to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker
November 9, 2012
As I said earlier, Sen. Wicker has now won re-election on Tuesday by a comfortable margin.
An Open Letter to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker
November 9, 2012

Historical Examples of wicker

It was a large bedroom with high ceilings and wicker furniture.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
They vse also mosse tyed on aboue the clay with some bryer, wicker, or other bands.
A New Orchard And Garden
William Lawson
He sat in his wicker chair before the fire and rocked himself and moaned.
The Christian
Hall Caine
There were arrows and wicker shields also, and the huge wooden shields of the Egyptians.
Anabasis
Xenophon
The wicker armchair was the most substantial thing about her person.
'Twixt Land & Sea
Joseph Conrad

British Dictionary definitions for wicker

wicker

noun

a slender flexible twig or shoot, esp of willow

short for wickerwork

adjective

made, consisting of, or constructed from wicker

Word Origin for wicker

C14: from Scandinavian; compare Swedish viker, Danish viger willow, Swedish vika to bend

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 wicker

mid-14c., "wickerwork," from a Scandinavian source (cf. Middle Swedish viker "willow branch") akin to Old Norse vikja "to move, turn," Swedish vika "to bend," and related to Old English wican "to give way, yield" (see weak). The notion is of pliant twigs.