derrick English · revision 2462

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈdɛɹɪk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It comes from the obsolete ''derrick'' “hangman, gallows”,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) from the surname of a hangman at London's Tyburn gallows around 1600.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) Merriam-Webster places him in the 17th century.^(MW Collegiate) The name is a Low Countries form of the Germanic name ''Theodoric''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A hangman; hanging; the gallows (about 1600).^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The hangman was often mentioned in plays of the time, and his name came to mean the gallows itself.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) By resemblance to a gallows, it was applied in 1727 to a hoisting apparatus for heavy weights;^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) Merriam-Webster dates this sense to about 1752.^(MW Collegiate) In 1861, in American English, it was first used for the tower over an oil well.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * about 1600 – a hangman; the gallows.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1600 – verb, to hang (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1727 – a hoisting apparatus.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1861 – the framework over an oil well (American).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A crane with a boom pivoted at the base of an upright mast, used to lift heavy objects.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A tall framework over a drilled well, especially an oil well, supporting the boring equipment.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' A hangman.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}