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cricket

KRIK-it/ˈkɹɪkɪt/

Pluralcrickets

10 meanings of cricket

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  1. 1
    nouncountable
    An insect that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wings against its back legs.

    We could hear a cricket chirping under the porch.

    The crickets were loud in the grass last night.

    Note
  2. 2
    noununcountable
    An outdoor sport for two teams of eleven players, played with bats and a ball, popular in England and many other countries.

    My cousins play cricket every Sunday in the park.

    He hit the ball over the fence during the cricket match.

    Note
  3. 3
    nounslanghumorousUSplural
    Total silence, when nobody says or writes anything at all.

    I asked the class who wanted to go first, and all I got was crickets.

    She told her best joke at dinner, but it was crickets around the table.

    Similarsilence

    Note
  4. 4
    nounBritishuncountable
    Fair and honest behavior, used mostly to say that something is not fair.

    Reading her diary without asking is just not cricket.

    Taking credit for his work wasn't cricket, and everyone knew it.

    Note
  5. 5
    noununcountable
    A game you play with darts, with its own special rules.

    Grab three darts each, because we're playing cricket tonight.

    He is better at cricket than at the usual darts games.

  6. 6
    nouncountable
    A small part of a roof that sends water away from where the roof meets a chimney or wall.

    The roofer built a cricket behind the chimney to stop the leaks.

    Rain ran off the cricket and down both sides of the chimney.

  7. 7
    nouncountable
    A device soldiers behind enemy lines use to tell their own side who they are when it is hard to see.

    In the dark field, the soldier pressed his cricket and waited for an answer.

    Each soldier carried a cricket so his friends would know him at night.

  8. 8
    nounslangcountable
    A warning sound that chimes again and again so pilots find it hard to ignore.

    The cricket went off in the cockpit, and the pilot checked the engines.

    During flight training, the teacher set off the cricket to see how quickly the students would notice it.

    Note
  9. 9
    noundialectalcountable
    A small wooden stool you rest your feet on.

    Grandad put his feet up on the cricket by the fire.

    I sat on the old wooden cricket to tie my boots.

    Similarfootstool

    Note

Less common meaning

  1. 10
    verbrareintransitive
    To play a game of cricket.

    He spent every summer cricketing with his friends in the park.

    Judge: Your family is in destitute circumstances. How do you get your living? Bannerman: By cricketing, your Worship.
    1891, "A Cricketer in Low Circumstances", The Evening News (Sydney); cited in "What do we know about the first Test cricketer?"Here, cricketing means playing the sport of cricket.
    Note

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1, 3, 7–8

It comes from an Old French word linked to a verb meaning "to creak", which came from Dutch. The word was made to copy a creaking sound.

Meanings 2, 4–5, 10

It may come from a Flemish Dutch phrase meaning "to chase a ball with a curved stick".

Meanings 6, 9

No one knows where this word comes from.