I. ˈsik adjective
( usually -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English sik, sek, seke, from Old English sēoc; akin to Middle Dutch siec sick, Old High German siuh, sioh sick, Old Norse sjūkr sick, distressed, Gothic siuks sick, Middle Irish socht depression, silence
1.
a.
(1) : affected with disease : not well or healthy : ill , ailing , indisposed
lay sick of a fever — Mk 1:30 (Authorized Version)
fell sick of an obscure depressing fever — Frank Outram & G.E.Fane
took sick this morning
(2) : accompanying, indicating, or suggestive of sickness : sickly
the sick smell of age and medicine — Irwin Shaw
(3) : designed for or put to the use or service of a sick person
sick chair
sick lamp
sick ward
(4) : relating to the sick
sick benefit
sick insurance
sick pay
b. : affected with or attended by nausea : inclined to vomit or being in the act of vomiting : queasy — used with stomach with at, to, in, or on
felt sick at his stomach — Ernest Hemingway
— compare airsick , carsick , seasick
c. chiefly dialect : confined in childbed
d. : menstruating
2. : spiritually or morally unsound or corrupt
and heal my soul diseased and sick — John Wesley
3.
a. : affected by some strong emotion (as shame, horror, fear, or envy) to the degree that one feels nauseated or faint
sick with fear
worried sick by repeated failures
b. : having a strong distaste from surfeit : satiated — used with of
sick of flattery
sick of a task
sick of the noise and the smoke — William Black
c. : disgusted , chagrined
gossip that makes one sick
d. : depressed and longing for something
sick for one's home
4.
a. : mentally or emotionally unsound or disordered : morbid , unwholesome
a sick personality
sick thoughts
b. : dealing with unpleasant or macabre subjects
sick jokes
5. : requiring repair or replacement : defective , faulty
a sick locomotive
6. : weak during molting — used of a bird's feathers
7.
a. : pale or sickly in appearance or tone : sallow , wan
a sick skin — John Updike
light from my torch showed his heavy square face a sick yellow — Marcia Davenport
b.
(1) : lacking vigor : subnormal in growth or development
a sick tree
(2) of grain : low in viability and deteriorated in milling quality due to slightly excessive moisture content at the time of storing
sick wheat
c. : sickly 5a(2)
said … finally, in a sick whisper — T.B.Costain
d. : badly outclassed : poor — usually used with look
observers racked up 141 species, making their previous record of 113 look sick — Time
a girl won … and made the speedsters look very sick — Irish Digest
8. : spawning ; broadly : poor , watery
sick fish
sick oysters
9. : being in a declining or inactive state especially after a period of excessive speculation
a sick market
sick commodities
a sick economy
10. : incapable of producing profitable yields of a crop because infested with disease organisms
clover sick soils
ground that gets sick to melons — Market Growers Journal
sick valleys across the land — R.G.Struble
11. of glass : having a cloudy appearance caused especially by impurities
•
- sick to death
- sick unto death
II. noun
Etymology: Middle English sik, sek, from Old English sēoc, from sēoc, adjective, sick
1. plural sick : a sick person
then saith he to the sick of the palsy — Mt 9:6 (Authorized Version)
— used collectively
the number of absentees and sick has risen — Time
2. -s
a. : sickness
b. chiefly Britain : vomit
a room smelling rather of sick — Elizabeth Taylor
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English siken, seken, from sik, sek, adjective, sick
intransitive verb
1. obsolete : to become ill : fall sick
2. : vomit — often used with up
transitive verb
obsolete : to cause to be ill : make sick
IV. (|)sik
dialect Britain
variant of such
V.
variant of sic