Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any saltatorial orthopterous insect of the family Gryllidæ (or Achetidæ), or of a group Achetina: sometimes extended to certain species of the related family Locustidæ.
  • noun A small, low stool; a footstool.
  • noun An open-air game played with bats, ball, and wickets, long peculiar to England, but now popular throughout the British empire, and somewhat less so in the United States and elsewhere.
  • To engage in the game of cricket; play cricket.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A low stool.
  • noun A game much played in England, and sometimes in America, with a ball, bats, and wickets, the players being arranged in two contesting parties or sides.
  • noun (Arch.) A small false roof, or the raising of a portion of a roof, so as to throw off water from behind an obstacle, such as a chimney.
  • intransitive verb To play at cricket.
  • noun (Zoöl.) An orthopterous insect of the genus Gryllus, and allied genera. The males make chirping, musical notes by rubbing together the basal parts of the veins of the front wings.
  • noun See under Balm.
  • noun a small European bird (Silvia locustella); -- called also grasshopper warbler.
  • noun a small American tree frog (Acris gryllus); -- so called from its chirping.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An insect in the order Orthoptera, especially family Gryllidae, that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wing casings against combs on its hind legs.
  • noun A wooden footstool.
  • noun A signalling device used by soldiers in hostile territory to identify themselves to a friendly in low visibility conditions
  • noun A relatively small area of a roof constructed to divert water from a horizontal intersection of the roof with a chimney, wall, expansion joint or other projection.
  • noun US slang, in the plural Absolute silence; no communication. See crickets.
  • noun sports A game played outdoors with bats and a ball between two teams of eleven, popular in England and many Commonwealth countries.
  • noun chiefly UK An act that is fair and sportsmanlike, derived from the sport.
  • verb rare, intransitive To play the game of cricket.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb play cricket
  • noun leaping insect; male makes chirping noises by rubbing the forewings together
  • noun a game played with a ball and bat by two teams of 11 players; teams take turns trying to score runs

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French criquet, from criquer ("to make a cracking sound").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch met 'with' de 'the' krik ketsen 'to ricochet', i.e. "to chase a ball with a crook".

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Examples

Comments

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  • "From the appearance of the tree-top, at a little distance, you would expect nothing but lichens to drop from it, but your faith is rewarded by finding the ground strewn with spirited fruit,--some of it, perhaps, collected at squirrel-holes, with the marks of their teeth by which they carried them,--some containing a cricket or two silently feeding within, and some, especially in damp days, a shelless snail." - 'Wild Apples', Henry David Thoreau.

    December 14, 2007

  • Awesome! I'm listed!

    February 26, 2008

  • Ooh hoo wah ha ha...

    February 26, 2008

  • Crickets hear through their knees.

    May 7, 2008

  • User: Do you dig cricket?

    Bot: I digest me.

    User: Most unfortunate, old pie-crust. I was wishing to discuss the merits of Ponting's off drive.

    Bot: Aren't you able to understand what I was asking for?

    User: And what was that, poppet?

    Bot: I don't remember.

    October 14, 2008

  • The definitions claim that "cricket" can be a verb. I have never heard anyone use cricket that way, and I live in a land where the game (noun) reigns supreme!

    There is also the idiom: "It's just not cricket." (That's unfair. Bad sportsmanship.)

    October 14, 2008

  • Interesting, frindley. I've never heard it used as a verb, either. On the other hand, we have cricketers (not just "cricket players"), who presumably cricket in the same way that builders build, dancers dance, pole-vaulters pole-vault, etc.

    October 14, 2008

  • And there is cricketing too.

    Perhaps it is the case that the verb is simply never used in its basic form "to cricket". (Unless you count "to cricket the neck in an attempt to see opera surtitles from the cheap seat in the front row of the stalls".)

    October 15, 2008

  • I've never heard it used as a verb, but I see it's listed as such in OED. The usages date from the 19th century, however.

    October 15, 2008

  • On the continent, many people think life is game. The British think cricket is a game.

    May 12, 2009

  • That's not cricket, CF!

    May 12, 2009

  • No, it is a quote from George Mikes

    May 12, 2009