wicket

Definition

A small door or gate, especially one beside a larger one.

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wiket, from Old Norse (specifically, Old East Norse) víkjas, diminutive of vík. Compare modern French guichet, ultimately from the same Old Norse source.

Example Sentences

• "...and one, a cool, bold fellow, whom I know well, will unlock the town gate, and—for he has various talents—hopes, through his influence with a pretty daughter of one of the wardens, to leave unbarred a certain wicket in the postern on the seaward side."
• "And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked / Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; / His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay, […]"
• "As he did so he heard the shuffle of footsteps entering the chapel and the clicking of the confessional wicket."