crick

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (`rick' and `wrick' are British)
  2. noun English biochemist who (with Watson in 1953) helped discover the helical structure of DNA (1916-2004)
  3. verb twist (a body part) into a strained position

Etymology

From Middle English crike, crykke (“muscular spasm of the neck”), attested since the 1400s. Likely related to Old Norse kriki (“bend; nook”), whence also crick (“creek”) and creek.

In classic literature

Synonyms

kink, rick, wrick

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