Wick away

Question

What exactly does this word mean? Can it mean distribute (with a brush)? After suctioning or wicking away of excess, no pooling of liquid should exist.Thank you

Dave Phillips · Accepted Answer

I think that it is a bad translation. Wick is a noun not a verb.

A wick is the string-like material that is lit in candles and oil lamps, which then burns slowly and produce the light.

I am guessing that the writer means that the excess liquid can be removed by means of absorption. As I said 'to wick' isn't in use in the UK.

Mikejj · Answer

Natalia09What exactly does this word mean? Can it mean distribute (with a brush)? After suctioning or wicking away of excess, no pooling of liquid should exist. Thank you

This could be a spelling mistake but is more likely to be an error in English usage. The correct word is

Wiping: To remove residue, in this case liquid, with a cloth or sponge.

Avangi · Answer

Dave PhillipsAs I said 'to wick' isn't in use in the UK.

Hi, Dave.
To me, it's quite common as a verb. That's what a wick does.
The average person might not use that technology around the home - especially now that whale oil is hard to come by.

In a delicate operation the appropriate amount of suction or syphon may not be available.

A friend of mine went to the hospital afer using a tube to remove the excess gas from the various chambers of a carburator he was cleaning on the kitchen table.

He should have wicked it out!

As you suggest, Dave, it's not that different from using a wadded-up piece of absorbant paper towel to "soak up" the unwanted liquid.
It may be inconvenient to invert the equipment you're cleaning. The chamber you're cleaning may be hard to reach. The liquid may be poisonous, so don't suck it out with a straw.

Edit. Well, as I recall, my friend was not really that dumb. He was also using the tube to clear orifices. But he did spend a day in the hospital because of it.

Actually, a candle wick defies gravity in the same way the wick in an old fashioned oil lamp does. The melted wax travels up the wick.

Then there was the original AirWick air freshener. Those wicks were monstrous.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Wicking is when something made of cloth absorbs moisture from contact.

If you have a pool of water and only the tip of a paper towel in the water, and the water is drawn into the paper towel, that's wicking.

When you wear "performance" underwear (long sleeved shirts, for example) it wicks your perspiration from your body and transfers to the outer layer, where it evaporates. This keeps you from getting soaked in sweat.

I'm sure it's a verb in the UK too, but simply in contexts you don't use.

Avangi · Answer

mikejjThis could be a spelling mistake but is more likely to be an error in English usage. The correct word is
Wiping: To remove residue, in this case liquid, with a cloth or sponge.

Welcome to English Forums, mike. Thanks for joining us! [<:o)]
I see you're from England as well as Dave.

Best wishes, - A.

Dave Phillips · Answer

Well thats a new one to me. I did check a dictionary before posting (admittedly an advanced learners one, rather than one for native speakers) and it confirmed my belief. I take it that it is used as a regular verb.

Dave

PS. Welcome Mike, I'm glad that I'm not the only Brit not to here of wicking.

Avangi · Answer

Dave Phillips and it confirmed my belief

My 1980's American Heritage doesn't list it either.

- A.

MW online says the transitive verb was first used in 1949. (doesn't say where)

LouiseT · Answer

to wick is to remove liquid using capillary action. It is not often used in the UK. I have heard it used before but only by my Grandmother's generation.

Anonymous · Answer

To wick something means just that the ACTION (verb)r9rtx of wiping away moister

Avangi · Answer

Your windshield wipers wipe away moisture, but that's not "wicking."

There must be absorption by an agent, such as a wick, or rag.

- A.

Wick away

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