CRICK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Crick mean? 

• CRICK (noun)
  The noun CRICK has 2 senses:

1. a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back ('rick' and 'wrick' are British)

2. English biochemist who (with Watson in 1953) helped discover the helical structure of DNA (1916-2004)

  Familiarity information: CRICK used as a noun is rare.

• CRICK (verb)
  The verb CRICK has 1 sense:

1. twist (a body part) into a strained position

  Familiarity information: CRICK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CRICK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back ('rick' and 'wrick' are British)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

crick; kink; rick; wrick

Hypernyms ("crick" is a kind of...):

cramp; muscle spasm; spasm (a painful and involuntary muscular contraction)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Derivation:

crick (twist (a body part) into a strained position)

Sense 2

Meaning:

English biochemist who (with Watson in 1953) helped discover the helical structure of DNA (1916-2004)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Crick; Francis Crick; Francis Henry Compton Crick

Instance hypernyms:

biochemist (someone with special training in biochemistry)

• CRICK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they crick    ... he / she / it cricks   
Past simple: cricked   
Past participle: cricked   
-ing form: cricking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Twist (a body part) into a strained position

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

crick your neck

Hypernyms (to "crick" is one way to...):

twist (turn in the opposite direction)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

crick (a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back ('rick' and 'wrick' are British))

 Context examples 

While many have shown that sleep helps the brain store new memories, others, including Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the DNA double helix, have raised the possibility that sleep – in particular REM sleep – may be a time when the brain actively eliminates or forgets excess information.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)