| Summary: | killick n The term "killick" is employed correctly for a boat-anchor, usually a home-made one, and often one constructed of wood and stone; and is only by a jocular extension applied to ships' anchors, especially as in the nickname "cross-killicks," given to an arm-badge composed of two heraldic anchors in saltire, worn in the Royal Navy, and in such phrases as "up killick," -> to weigh anchor, and "down killick," to moor. The origin of the word has been given up as a philological puzzle by the [i] New English Dictionary [i], which traces it back to 1630 as English, and until more is known it is only by way of guess that one can compare it on the Teutonic side with Norwegian [i] krakje [i], used of a sort of boat-anchor, or with the Celtic words of a rock, Irish [i] cloch [i] , Welsh [i]clog [i] or for a cock, Irish [i] caileach [i], Welsh [i] ceiliog [i] , Cornish [i] keliok[i], Breton [i]kilek[i],wit a possible reference to its spur-like flukes. A rare alternative English name was "crab-claws," and this seems to be an echo of [i]krabbe[i], a name under which killicks still go in Scandinavia and North Germany. W. Kirwin 11/77 Jh 11/77 Used I and Sup Not used Not used cillick, kellick, killock, lose your killick, and [you'll] find it in the fall, have a rock in one's killick, killick-claw, killick-rod, killick-stone, keel-log, kellock, keylock, GRANNY 2 Checked by Raji Sreeni on Fri 10 Jul 2015
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