Word of the Week: February 1 - 7: killick

killick

Definition according to the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:

killick n also cillick, kellick, killock, etc [phonetics unavailable]. OED ~ naut (N E: 1630-); DAE killock (N E: 1649-); DC (Nfld: 1774-); cp EDD kelk sb2 'a large detached stone' for sense 1.

1 An anchor made up of an elongated stone encased in pliable sticks bound at the top and fixed in two curved cross-pieces, used in mooring nets and small boats; GRANNY 2. 1760 CO 194: 15 To 1 Small Anchor of 40 lb & 1 Cillick.

[1785] 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii, 96 Mr Collingham and two hands finished the shortest seal-net, and the people then carried them both, as also the killicks, &c. to the yawl; but the wind being too high to put them out, they left them there.

1792 ibid Gloss i, xii ~ A wooden anchor, made by nailing a pair of claws across each other, and fixing three rods to each claw; within which a large stone is placed to give it weight, and the ends of all the rods are tied together above the stone to secure it in its place.

[1802] 1895 PROWSE 419 The [seal net] is extended at the bottom by a mooring and killock fixed to each end.

1857 MOUNTAIN 7 Arrived on the Spot, they cast out a home-made anchor called a 'killock,' composed of a long shaped stone encircled with pliant strips of wood, bound tightly at one end.

1878 TOCQUE 192 He lets go his grapnel, or more commonly his kellick, and commences fishing in from 80 to 120 fathoms of water.

1896 J A Folklore ix, 23 Killock ... a small anchor, partly of stone and partly of wood, still used by fishermen, but going out of use in favor of iron grapnels.

1937 DEVINE 30 Killock. A home made anchor, consisting of a frame of witherods enclosing one or two oblong stones, settled on a base of four wooden claws: used to moor small boats and nets.

[1952] 1965 PEACOCK (ed) i, 125 "The Fisherman's Alphabet": "K" stands for killick, wood, rock and nails. T 47-64 You'd put your mooring around the claws of the killick and then take a turn around the back end of the killick so as 'twill be layin' on the bottom.

1969 HORWOOD 81 Cod traps are set to moorings, in rather shallow water ... The traps are ... often moored to the bottom with killicks. 2 Proverb lose your killick, and [you'll] find it in the fall. C 71-102 ~ If you lose your boat anchor, you'll find it [charged on the merchant's bill in the fall]. 3 Phr have a rock in one's killick: of a woman, to be pregnant (P 148-75). 4 Attrib killick-claw: one of the four arms formed by the two cross-pieces of a killick.

[1774] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 32 Four hands ... cut some killick-claws.

[1952] 1965 PEACOCK (ed) i, 130 "For the Fish We Must Prepare": Oh traps and trawls and fingerstalls, / Rubber boots and killick claws. killick-rod: one of the pliable sticks encasing the 'killick stone'; RUNG.

[1774] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 29 Having filled up the boat with whitings, pryor-poles and killick-rods, at high water we sailed home. killick-stone: elongated stone suitable for providing the ballast of home-made anchor.

[1776] 1792 CARTWRIGHT ii, 178 Five hands were at work on the shalloway, and the rest were gathering killick stones, cutting longers, and rinding birch.

1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 211 Killick Stone islands [are located] 6 cables northwestward ... of Bridgeport Harbour head.

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