From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwickwick /wɪk/ noun [countable] 1 DHthe piece of thread in a candle, that burns when you light it2 DHTPGa long piece of material in an oil lamp, that sucks up oil so that the lamp can burn3 → get on somebody’s wick
Examples from the Corpus
wick• On successive Sundays he would repeat this ritual until every wick was alight.• Twice, its wick collapses in wax.• Smoke that smelt of churches poured from the wicks, drifted over the slowly heaving ocean, hid their feet.• The flame of the wick was blown down to touch the paraffin in the body of the lamp.• He took one of the smaller candles and, striking a match, held it to the wick.• With shears from her basket, the Pysillian trimmed the wick, to steady it.• The wick flickered hesitantly, then licked upward into a bright yellow tongue.Origin wick Old English weoce