crick

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈkrik 

: a painful spasmodic condition of muscles (as of the neck or back)

crick

2 of 3

verb

cricked; cricking; cricks

transitive verb

1

: to cause a crick in

crick one's neck

2

: to turn or twist (something, such as one's head) especially into a strained position

crick

3 of 3

noun (2)

plural cricks

dialectal

: creek sense 1

I grew up fishing on little cricks with my dad.

—C. W. Welch

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• charley horse
• cramp
• kink
• spasm

Examples of crick in a Sentence

Noun (1)

got a crick in my neck from sleeping while sitting up

Verb

He cricked his back sleeping on the sofa.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

More of a crick in his neck. —Bryan Washington, The New Yorker, 4 July 2022

Don’t let tech neck put a crick in your running posture. —Outside Online, 23 Nov. 2022

One of my favorite distinctions is when Steve described the difference between calling a particular stream a creek or a crick. —Anchorage Daily News, 11 Apr. 2021

Old, lumpy pillows that give you a crick in your neck won't do you any favors when trying to fall asleep. —Lauren Corona, chicagotribune.com, 29 Mar. 2021

If watching from your sofa or bed gives you a crick in your neck? —Popsci Commerce Team, Popular Science, 23 Feb. 2021

Yet most of us reach a day when merely sleeping in the wrong position on a pillow that’s too soft or too flat brings on a crick in the neck that sticks around for days. —Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 10 June 2020

So massage that crick in your neck, put on your blue-light glasses and settle down with these digital offerings. —Scottie Andrew, CNN, 18 Apr. 2020

The hunters cruise slowly and look for them out the windows, and get cricks in their necks from it. —Gena Steffens, Smithsonian, 11 July 2019

Verb

That nagging ache in your lower back, sharp pain in your wrist, or crick in your neck means something. —Simon Hill, Wired, 2 Mar. 2022

The gear selector for the standard six-speed manual gearbox also is a mite too far back in the cabin, cricking elbows during shifts into the even-numbered ratios. —Mike Duff, Car and Driver, 23 Mar. 2018

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Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English cryk

Noun (2)

variant of creek, probably by shortening of Middle English crike

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1850, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1608, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

crick

noun

ˈkrik

: a painful spasm of muscles (as of the neck or back)

Medical Definition

crick

1 of 2 noun

ˈkrik 

: a painful spasmodic condition of muscles (as of the neck or back)

crick

2 of 2 transitive verb

: to cause a crick in (as the neck)

Biographical Definition

Crick

biographical name

ˈkrik 

Francis Harry Compton 1916–2004 British biophysicist