I. sick 1 S1 W3 /sɪk/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ sick , the sick, ↑ sickness , ↑ sicko ; adjective : ↑ sick , ↑ sickening , ↑ sickly ; adverb : ↑ sickeningly , ↑ sickly ; verb : ↑ sicken ]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: seoc ]
1 . ILL especially American English suffering from a disease or illness:
His mother’s very sick.
Maria can’t come in today because she’s sick.
a sick child
a sick animal
sick with
I have been sick with flu.
get sick (=become ill) American English :
At the last minute, I got sick and couldn’t go.
be off sick British English be out sick American English (=be away from work or school because you are ill)
Two of his employees were out sick.
I was off sick for four days with the flu.
phone/ring/call in sick (=phone to say you are not coming to work because you are ill)
He was upset because it was the first day of the sale and Astrid had called in sick.
What will happen to the business if you fall sick (=become ill) or die?
He took sick (=became ill) and died a week later.
Pete’s at home in bed, sick as a dog (=very sick) .
2 . be sick if you are sick, the food in your stomach comes up through your mouth SYN vomit , throw up :
I think I’m going to be sick.
He dashed to the bathroom and was sick again.
The cat’s been sick on the carpet.
You’ll be sick if you eat any more of that chocolate!
I was violently sick (=suddenly and severely sick) the last time I ate prawns.
3 . feel sick ( also be/feel sick to your stomach American English ) to feel as if you are going to ↑ vomit :
As soon as the ship started moving I began to feel sick.
feel sick with
Mary felt sick with fear.
She began to shiver, feeling sick to her stomach.
Virginia had a sick feeling in her stomach.
⇨ ↑ carsick , ↑ seasick , ⇨ travel-sick at ↑ travel sickness
4 . make me/you sick spoken
a) to make you feel very angry:
People like you make me sick!
b) to make you feel jealous – used humorously:
You make me sick with your ‘expenses paid’ holidays!
5 . make somebody/yourself sick British English
a) if something makes you sick, it makes you bring food up from your stomach through your mouth:
The smell of blood made him sick.
b) if you make yourself sick, you do something to bring food up from your stomach through your mouth:
I’ve never been able to make myself sick.
You’ll make yourself sick if you eat any more!
6 . be sick (and tired) of (doing) something ( also be sick to death of (doing) something ) spoken to be angry or bored with something that has been happening for a long time:
I’m sick and tired of your excuses.
I am sick of working for other people.
7 . be worried sick/be sick with worry to be extremely worried:
Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home late? I’ve been worried sick!
8 . STRANGE/CRUEL
a) someone who is sick does things that are strange and cruel, and seems mentally ill:
I keep getting obscene phone calls from some sick pervert.
You’re sick!
a sick mind
b) sick stories, jokes etc deal with death and suffering in a cruel or unpleasant way:
I don’t want to hear any of your sick jokes, thank you.
That’s really sick!
9 . sick at heart literary very unhappy, upset, or disappointed about something:
I was sick at heart to think that I would never see the place again.
10 . sick as a parrot British English spoken extremely disappointed – used humorously
11 . [not before noun] British English spoken used by young people to say that something is very impressive and they admire it a lot
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ get sick (=become ill)
The boy got sick, and he just got worse and worse.
▪ fall/take sick formal (=become ill, especially with something serious or that will last a long time)
He fell sick and died within a matter of weeks.
▪ be off sick British English , be out sick American English (=be away from work or school because you are ill)
Half my staff were off sick.
▪ call/phone/ring in sick (=phone to say you are not coming in to work because you are ill)
I could have called in sick, but I knew you needed this report.
■ sick + NOUN
▪ sick leave (=time that you can stay away from work because you are ill)
He returned to duty after two months’ sick leave.
▪ sick pay (=money paid to an employee who is too ill to work)
Only full-time employees got sick pay.
▪ somebody's sick bed (=the bed where a sick person is lying)
He left his sick bed to play in the game.
▪ the sick room (=the room where a sick person is)
She had spent the last hour in her mother’s sick room.
▪ the sick bay (=a room where there are beds for people who are sick, for example on a ship or in a school)
I was confined to the ship's sick bay until we arrived back in Liverpool.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ ill [not before noun] especially British English suffering from a disease or not feeling well:
Her mother is seriously ill in hospital.
|
I woke up feeling really ill.
▪ sick especially American English ill:
She’s been sick with the flu.
|
a sick child
|
Dan got sick on vacation.
▪ not very well [not before noun] ill, but not seriously ill:
Sarah’s not very well – she has a throat infection.
▪ unwell [not before noun] formal ill:
The singer had been unwell for some time.
|
Symptoms include fever, aching muscles, and feeling generally unwell.
▪ poorly [not before noun] British English spoken ill:
Your grandmother’s been very poorly lately.
▪ in a bad way [not before noun] very ill because of a serious injury or disease:
You’d better call an ambulance – she looks like she’s in a bad way.
▪ be off sick British English , be out sick American English to be not at work because of an illness:
Two teachers were off sick yesterday.
II. sick 2 BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ sick , the sick, ↑ sickness , ↑ sicko ; adjective : ↑ sick , ↑ sickening , ↑ sickly ; adverb : ↑ sickeningly , ↑ sickly ; verb : ↑ sicken ]
1 . the sick [plural] people who are ill:
The sick and wounded were allowed to go free.
2 . [uncountable] British English informal ↑ vomit :
The phone box smelt of sick.
III. sick 3 BrE AmE verb
sick something ↔ up phrasal verb British English informal
to bring up food from your stomach – used especially of children SYN vomit up American English :
Ruth had frequently sicked up her bottle milk.