crick1
/krɪk
/noun
A painful stiff feeling in the neck or back.Adam woke up quite early thanks to a painful crick in his neck....
- His back was stiff, and his neck had a crick in it.
- My backside was sore from sleeping on such hard ground and my neck had a crick in it from the high elevation of my ‘pillow’.
Synonyms
cramp, spasm, muscle spasm, muscular contraction, rick, kink, twinge, pang, pain, shooting pain, ache;
stiffness, discomfort, tenderness, soreness
verb [with object]
Twist or strain (one’s neck or back), causing painful stiffness: (as adjective cricked) he suffered a cricked neck during tackling practice...
- Bees winger Peter Sutcliffe missed that tie three weeks ago after cricking his neck at his hotel breakfast table on the day of the match.
- Harold said he couldn't get down comfortably to play shots because he cricked his neck a few days ago.
- Another lady claimed she had cricked her neck because she was ‘shocked’ by a movement made by one of the centre's ‘human statues’.
Synonyms
strain, sprain, pull, wrench, tear, twist, rick;
injure, hurt, damage, impair
Origin
Late Middle English: of unknown origin.
Rhymes
crick2
/krik
/noun US dialect
A creek.The company found a clearing between three hills where the grass was low and a few trees stood sentinel over a tiny, trickling crick.