Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Nautical A device, such as a looped rope, hook and eye, strap, or grommet, used to hold or fasten loose ropes, spars, or oars in position.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Same as becker.
- n. Nautical: A short piece of rope, with a knot at one end and an eye in the other, for temporarily confining ropes or small spars.
- n. A handle made of a rope grommet or ring.
- n. A wooden cleat or hook, fastened on the fore- or main-rigging of a ship, for the tacks and sheets to lie in when not in use.
- n. A rope grommet in the bottom of a block for securing the standing end of the fall.
- n. A cant term for a trousers-pocket.
- To fasten or provide with beckets.
- n. A large hook used in loading logs on cars by means of tackle.
- n. In marine hardware, a brass or iron ring forming a part of a metal block, the block and becket being cast in one piece.
Wiktionary
- n. nautical A short piece of rope spliced to form a circle
- n. nautical The clevis of a pulley block.
- n. An eye in the end of a rope.
- n. A method of joining fabric, for example the doors of a tent, by interlacing loops of cord (beckets) through eyelet holes and adjacent loops.
- n. UK, dialect A spade for digging turf.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Naut.) A small grommet, or a ring or loop of rope or metal for holding things in position, as spars, ropes, etc.; also a bracket, a pocket, or a handle made of rope.
- n. Prov. Eng. A spade for digging turf.
WordNet 3.0
- n. (nautical) a short line with an eye at one end and a knot at the other; used to secure loose items on a ship
- n. (Roman Catholic Church) archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170; murdered following his opposition to Henry II's attempts to control the clergy (1118-1170)
Etymologies
- Compare Dutch bek ("beak") beak, and English beak. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In throwing them they make use of a becket, that is, a piece of stiff plaited cord about six inches long, with an eye in one end and a knot at the other.”
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 14
“Twas triced up in a-- a kind of becket, as you might say, made out of velvet -- yes, sir, by creepin ', velvet!”
“(“Voyages of Captain Cook round the World,” vol. i., chapter vi.) says that in the throwing of darts “they make use of the becket, that is, a piece of stiff plaited cord, about six inches long, with an eye in one end and a knot in the other.”
“Describing some of the arts of the inhabitants of Tanna, Cook ( "Voyages of Captain Cook round the World," vol. i., chapter vi.) says that in the throwing of darts "they make use of the becket, that is, a piece of stiff plaited cord, about six inches long, with an eye in one end and a knot in the other.”
“October 14, 2008 at 4:57 am lolrus said bukket not becket!”
i can waits - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“Matilda in later life actually ended up being one of those people who once was important so in the time of becket and Eleanor she had become a nagging and cantankerous woman till her death.”
“I have becket my vonderbilt hutch in sunsmidnought and at morningrise was encampassed of mushroofs.”
“November 24th, 2008 at 7:41 am goodman armstrong creek school district spalding county ga school system nyc school calander thomas a becket school bandys high school football kuldetitir Says:”
“They hold the dart between the thumb and the remaining finger, which serve only to give direction, the velocity being communicated by the becket and forefinger.”
“Hornblower took the glass from its becket and walked forward.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘becket’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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phrontistery - b
List of words from phrontistery.info
bywoner, byssus, byssiferous, byssaceous, byrnie, butyric, butyraceous, buttery, buteonine, bunting, burdet, broma and 582 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Words of indeterminate origin
Words of which the origin is unknown.
(i.e. we don't know who coined them and they probably aren't derived from another language like Latin)fuddle, conundrum, grouse, scad, pod, culvert, dude, dahoon, bloke, hootenanny, gib, malarky and 5 more...
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Cant terms
Words with the phrase "cant term" in their definitions.
placket, bogus, blackbird, henchman, becket, fly, whiggamore, caxon, panny, bid-stand, gull, palabras and 4 more...
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whaling terms
Terms defined in the glossary of Clifford W. Ashley's "Yankee Whaler".
advance, adze, after house, after oar, agent, air up, alow, ambergris, apeak, article, away, bailer and 299 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for becket.
sionnach There's a hole in my becket.
Feck it! Sep 14, 2011
ruzuzu "6. A cant term for a trousers-pocket." --Cent. Dict. Sep 14, 2011