Cricket
Cricket (kr?k"?t) , noun
[Old English criket, Old French crequet, criquet; prob. of German origin, and akin to English creak; compare Dutch kriek a cricket. See Creak.]
(Zoology) An orthopterous insect of the genus Gryllus, and allied genera. The males make chirping, musical notes by rubbing together the basal parts of the veins of the front wings.
The common European cricket is Gryllus domesticus; the common large black crickets of America are Gryllus niger, Gryllus neglectus, and others.
Collocations (3)
Balm cricket , See under Balm.
Cricket bird , a small European bird (Silvia locustella); -- called also grasshopper warbler.
Cricket frog , a small American tree frog (Acris gryllus); -- so called from its chirping.
Cricket , noun
[Anglo-Saxon cricc, crycc, crooked staff, crutch. Perh. first used in sense 1, a stool probably having been first used as a wicket. See Crutch.]
1.
A low stool.
2.
A game much played in England, and sometimes in America, with a ball, bats, and wickets, the players being arranged in two contesting parties or sides.
3.
(Architecture) A small false roof, or the raising of a portion of a roof, so as to throw off water from behind an obstacle, such as a chimney.
Cricket , intransitive verb
To play at cricket. — Tennyson