Meanings
plural wickets
- A small door or gate, especially one beside a larger one.
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked / Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; / His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay, […]
1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1, stanza IV, pages 46–472 more examples
...and one, a cool, bold fellow, whom I know well, will unlock the town gate, and—for he has various talents—hopes, through his influence with a pretty daughter of one of the wardens, to leave unbarred a certain wicket in the postern on the seaward side.
1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 25He then pushed on at full speed, and at last got into the village; and just as they were on the point of catching hold of the horse, he sprung in through the farmer's gate, and the man slapt the wicket after him.
1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 182 - CanadaUKA service window, as in a bank or train station, where a customer conducts transactions with a teller
Watt climbed the stone steps and stood before the wicket, looking through its bars. He admired the permanent way, stretching away on either hand, in the moonlight, and the starlight, as far as the eye could reach, as far as Watt's eye could have reached, if it had been inside the station.
1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC - a ticket barrier at a rail station, box office at a cinema, etc.
- The job of a wicketkeeper while the team is bowling.
He kept the wicket.
- ball gamesThe period during which two batsmen bat together.
- ball gamesThe pitch.
- ball gamesThe area around the stumps where the batsmen stand.
The captain told his fast bowler to bowl around the wicket.
- croquetAny of the small arches through which the balls are driven.
- hobbiesA temporary metal attachment that one attaches one's lift-ticket to.
- USdialectalA shelter made from tree boughs, used by lumbermen.
make kindly welcome whatever forest wanderer happens to enter the wicket of the log hit
1873, Andrew Leith Adams, Field and Forest Rambles - businessThe space between the pillars, in post-and-stall working.
- InternetinformalAn angle bracket when used in HTML.
- biologyA device to measure the height of animals, usually dogs.
- slangartsA highly stylized, elongated signature tag that originated in Philadelphia during the early-to-mid 1970s.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounsmall gate or door (especially one that is part of a larger door)
nounsmall opening (like a window in a door) through which business can be transacted
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*wīkwaną“to yield, bend, turn”
- Old Norsevíkjask“to move oneself, move around”
- Old Northern Frenchwiket
- Middle Englishwiket
- Englishwicket
From Middle English wiket, from Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French wiket, from Old East Old Norse víkjask (“to move oneself, move around”), reflexive of víkja, víkva, ýkva (“to yield, turn, move, go”), from Proto-Germanic *wīkwaną (“to yield, bend, turn”). Compare modern French guichet, ultimately from the same Old Norse source.
More words from Middle English, Old Northern French, Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans paaltjies
- paaltjiescricket: wooden structure at each end of the pit
Arabic خَوْخَة, خَوْخَة
- خَوْخَة (ḵawḵa)small door or gate
- خَوْخَة (ḵawḵa)small window or other opening
Bulgarian вратичка, прозорче
- вратичка (vratička)small door or gate
- прозорче (prozorče)small window or other opening
- шубер (šuber)service window
Catalan portella
- portellasmall door or gate
Czech vrátka, dvířka
- vrátkasmall door or gate
- dvířkasmall door or gate
- brankacricket: wooden structure at each end of the pit
Danish låge
- lågesmall door or gate
Esperanto giĉeto
- giĉetoservice window
Finnish sivuovi, pikkuovi
- sivuovismall door or gate
- pikkuovismall door or gate
- veräjäsmall door or gate
- luukkusmall window or other opening
- aukkosmall window or other opening
- luukkuservice window
- hilacricket: wooden structure at each end of the pit
- palocricket: dismissal
- keskialuecricket: pitch
- pesäcricket: area around the stumps where the batsmen stand
- portticroquet: small arch
- laavushelter made from tree boughs
French portillon, guichet
- portillonsmall door or gate
- guichetservice window
German Türchen, Törchen
- Türchensmall door or gate
- Törchensmall door or gate
- Pförtchensmall door or gate
- Schlupftürsmall door or gate
- Fensterchensmall window or other opening
- Schalterservice window
Hebrew פִּשְׁפָּשׁ
- פִּשְׁפָּשׁsmall door or gate
Māori wīkiti, paitumu
- wīkiticricket: wooden structure at each end of the pit
- paitumucricket: wooden structure at each end of the pit
Russian кали́тка, око́шечко
- кали́тка (kalítka)small door or gate
- око́шечко (okóšečko)small window or other opening
- окно́ (oknó)service window
- воро́тца (vorótca)cricket: wooden structure at each end of the pit
- воро́тца (vorótca)croquet: small arch
Spanish ventanilla
- ventanillasmall window or other opening
Turkish kuzguncuk
- kuzguncuksmall window or other opening
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with wicket
All rhymes →Cite this entry
wicket. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wicket
“wicket.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wicket. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wicket,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wicket.
Source: wicket on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.