Middle English Dictionary Entry
wiker n.
Entry Info
| Forms | wiker n. Also wikir, wekir, weker, qwikir, (N) wicker; pl. wikers, etc. & wikres, (error) wyrks. |
| Etymology | ON: cp. Swed. dial. vekare, vekker, vikker & Dan. vegre, vegerkurv. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A thin, pliant stalk of a plant used for weaving, thatching, etc.;—also coll.; (b) a mat made of wicker.
Associated quotations
a
- (1343) in Salzman Building in Engl.227 : [We find] lathes, thak, wyker, and temple [for thatching a penthouse].
- (1373) in Salzman Building in Engl.227 : Item, pro iiij ponderibus de wyker et temple pro ligatura ejusdem.
- c1450(?c1425) St.Christina Mirab.(Dc 114)126/11 : Hir cloþes was…sewyd to-gedir wiþ…wykers of salow.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)26/24 : Moises in Egipt was bore, and thre monthis hid, þan put in a uessel of wykyris, fillid þe joyntis with tow erde, cleped bithumen, and so put in þe watir.
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)23385 : Whan the smale wikres brak [vr. wyrks], The hopes wenten al to wrak.
- ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)139b : A Wicker: vitiligo, vimen, vitulamen, vbi twygge.
- (1477-9) Rec.St.Mary at Hill81 : For iij mattis of wikirs, boght for prestis and clerkis, iiij d.
- c1483(?a1450) OT in Caxton Gold.Leg.(Caxton)54b/b : He.., whan he myght no lenger hyde hym, toke a lytyl krybbe of rysshes and wykers..and put therin the chylde.
- a1500(a1400) Ipom.(1) (Chet 8009)6242 : His brydull was a wrethe wekyr.
- a1500 Mayer Nominale (Mayer)717/25 : Vimen: qwykyr.
b
- (1447) St.Alb.in RS 28.5 pt.1 (Hrl 3775)450 : Unum wyker in longitudine altaris…pedibus celebrantium supponendis.
- (1456) Acc.St.Margaret Southwark in BMag.32493 : Payed for a weker to stond vppon in the quere, v s.