wick
part of speech
noun (a wick, wicks); verb (wick away — of fabrics)
meaning for a pupil
1) A wick is the string in the middle of a candle or the strip in an oil lamp that you light; it soaks up melted wax or oil to keep the flame burning. tree →
2) To wick (away) is to draw water or sweat away, as some sports clothes do. tree →
sense in the lessons
Interpretation: Isaiah says the servant of God will not put out a dimly burning wick, a picture of gentleness to the weak. Tradition reads it as the quality of a just leader. In the primary lessons: In science lessons, a candle wick shows capillary action: liquid wax climbs up the wick to the flame. In safety, a long wick makes a big flame; candles must not be left unattended. In British slang, «to get on someone's wick» means to annoy them. Phrases: «trim the wick», «candle wick», «get on someone's wick».
examples
- A bruised reed shall he not break, and the dimly burning wick shall he not quench; he shall make the right to go forth according to the truth. (Prophets ISA.42.3, JPS 1917) tree →
- Who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power — they lie down together, they shall not rise, they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick: (Prophets ISA.43.17, JPS 1917) tree →
- Light the wick carefully with a long match. tree →
- Melted wax climbs up the wick and feeds the flame. tree →
- Trim the wick so the flame is small. tree →
- The candle went out when the wick burned down. tree →
- These sports socks wick sweat away from your feet. tree →
- In a science test, water climbed up a paper wick. tree →
note
Countable noun, plural wicks. Not the same as «wicked» (very bad, or in slang very good). In science, the wick works by capillary action.
In the corpora
- Trick birthday candles have a metal powder, magnesium, in the wick that catches fire again from the glowing wick.
- Some party candles have metal salts in the wick, so their flames burn green, red or lilac.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wick» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.