derrick
pronunciation
How to pronounce derrick in British English: UK [ˈderɪk]
How to pronounce derrick in American English: US [ˈdɛrɪk]
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- Noun:
- a framework erected over an oil well to allow drill tubes to be raised and lowered
- a simple crane having lifting tackle slung from a boom
Word Origin
- derrick
- derrick: [16] Around the end of the 16th century there was a famous Tyburn hangman called Derick. His name came to be used as a personification of hangmen in general, and subsequently as a metaphor for the ‘gallows’. Gradually, however, these macabre associations were lost, and by the 18th century derrick had progressed in meaning to ‘hoisting apparatus’.
- derrick (n.)
- c. 1600, originally "hangman," then "a gallows," then "hoist, crane" (1727), from surname of a hangman at Tyburn gallows, London, c. 1606-1608, often referred to in contemporary theater. The name represents a late borrowing from the Low Countries (compare Dutch Diederik) of Old High German Theodric (see Dietrich).
Example
- 1. He was relaxed and affable at derrick 's party .
- 2. Derrick is the most proficient typist in our typing class .
- 3. Derrick rose , 22 , has been with the chicago bulls since the 2008 nba draft .
- 4. In the late 1970s his long-time mistress , cecilia matos , would appear in a necklace from which hung a small , gold , oil derrick .
- 5. Derrick thought he would fill in the waiting time by seeing the world .