sick

comparative sicker · superlative sickest

1. In poor health; ill.

   We have to care for the sick.

   2 more examples

   Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.

   a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc’s “Science of cirurgie.”, London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, →ISBN, page 63

   ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Synonyms: ill, not well, poorly, sickly, unwell, diseased, disease-ridden, infect · Antonyms: fit, healthy, well

   1. [with with] Afflicted by (a specific condition, usually medical).

      She was sick all day with the flu.

      1 more example

      sick with a cold—sick with contagious diseases—sick with sciatica—sick with love—sick with worry

      Synonyms: ill, not well, poorly, sickly, unwell, diseased, disease-ridden, infect · Antonyms: fit, healthy, well

2. Having an urge to vomit.

   My daughter was violently sick three times in the night.

   4 more examples

   In the meantime the old man had gotten up and gone out in the yard and began to vomit. Henry said I believe I feel sick and got up and went out. He went out one door and his father went out the other one. I did not think there was anything wrong with the coffee and I asked my wife to pour this out […]

   1913, The Texas criminal reports, page 8

   Q. Didn't he complain he was sick before he commenced to vomit? A. He did, just before he said, to me, “I feel sick,” I asked him if he wanted to throw up and he said yes.

   1918, Cecil Day Lewis, The Whispering Roots, Jonathan Cape, page 140

   […] trying hard to cry. Crying’s good. Crying teaches him to breathe. But I wish he weren’t crying from hunger. I feel dizzy. I sit down and feel a little sick. Maybe I’ll vomit, too. No, to never vomit. I feel sick, but I won’t vomit. I never vomit.

   1958, Gene D’Olive, Chiara, Signet Book

   I feel sick, like I might vomit, and I'm more tired than I can ever remember feeling.

   2013, Cheryl Rainfield, Stained, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 38

   Synonyms: nauseated, barfy, mawkish, nauseated, nauseatic, pukey, pukish, queasy

3. colloquialMentally unstable, disturbed.

   You sick bastard!

   1 more example

   What a sick, sick feeling / To let you go, my dear

   2018, Boy Pablo, “Sick Feeling”

   Synonyms: disturbed, twisted, warped

4. colloquialIn bad taste.

   That’s a sick joke.

5. [with of] Tired of or annoyed by (something that has lasted a long time or often recurs).

   sick and tired of the whining—sick of waiting—'sick of politics

   2 more examples

   I’ve heard that song on the radio so many times that I’m starting to get sick of it.

   I’m so sick of that same old love, the kind that breaks your heart.

   2015, “Same Old Love”, in Revival, performed by Selena Gomez

6. slangVery good, excellent, awesome, badass.

   This tune is sick.

   2 more examples

   He showed off his sick surfing skills.

   Dude, this car's got a sick subwoofer!

   Synonyms: rad, wicked, ace, admirable, amazing, awe-inspiring, awesome, badass · Antonyms: crap, naff, uncool

7. In poor condition.

   sick building syndrome; my car is looking pretty sick; my job prospects are pretty sick

8. agricultureFailing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.

1. AustraliaUKcolloquialuncountableVomit.

   The bogan, true to form, laps it up like a dog does its own sick.

   2010, Michael Jayfox, E. Chas McSween, Intravenus DeMilo, Enron Hubbard, Hunter McKenzie-Smythe, Flash Johnson, Things Bogans Like, Sydney: Hachette, page 80

   1 more example

   […] they're spitting and belching chunks of lentilly gunk. Looks like sick.

   2003, Lynsey Calderwood, Cracked: Recovering After Traumatic Brain Injury, page 132

   Synonyms: vomit

2. UKcolloquialuncountable(especially in the phrases on the sick and on long-term sick) Any of various current or former benefits or allowances paid by the Government to support the sick, disabled or incapacitated.

present singular third person sicks · participle present sicking · participle past sicked · past sicked

1. AustraliaUKcolloquialTo vomit.

   I woke up at 4 am and sicked on the floor.

2. intransitiveobsolete except in dialectTo fall sick; to sicken.

   Our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.

   c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   1 more example

   Old man to pickney, so wave unno hand if you with me /To see the sufferation sick me.

   2005, Damian Marley, “Welcome to Jamrock”, in Welcome to Jamrock(album)

present singular third person sicks · participle present sicking · participle past sicked · past sicked

1. alternativerareAlternative spelling of sic (“set upon”).

   1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey, 1991 LB Books edition, page 154, "...is just something God sicks on people who have the gall to accuse Him of having created an ugly world."

   3 more examples

   "Wapi," she almost screamed, "go back! Sick 'em, Wapi—sick 'em—sick 'em—sick 'em!"

   1920, James Oliver Curwood, Back to God's Country

   When we were at work swabbing the deck, necessarily barelegged, Pelle would sick the dog on us; and it was an endless source of pleasure to him when the dog succeeded in fastening its teeth in our legs and making the blood run down our ankles.

   1938, Johannes Buchholtz, translated by Eugene Gay-Tifft, The Saga of Frank Dover, Kessinger Publishing edition, published 2005, →ISBN, page 125

   2001 (publication date), Anna Heilman, Never Far Away: The Auschwitz Chronicles of Anna Heilman, University of Calgary Press, →ISBN, page 82, Now they find a new entertainment: they sick the dog on us.

plural Sicks

1. A surname from German.