DERRICK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Derrick

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/dˈɛrɪk/ Listen

noun

Derrick n.

A mast, spar, or tall frame, supported at the top by stays or guys, and usually pivoted at the base, with suitable tackle for hoisting heavy weights, such as stones in building.

(Mining) The pyramidal structure or tower over a deep drill hole, such as that of an oil well (also called an oil derrick.

Derrick crane, a combination of the derrick and the crane, having facility for hoisting and also for swinging the load horizontally.

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Etymology of 'Derrick'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Derrick" Quotes from Famous Books

... uncle manage about his butcher and baker, I wonder! He might at least have provided a derrick for victualling his stronghold. Perhaps he hauls up provisions by ropes over the face of the cliff. No doubt, Charon knew about it. Shall I ...

— Idolatry - A Romance • Julian Hawthorne

... vicinity of the salvage operation on Number Five dredge. To Kielland it looked like a huge cylinder-type vacuum cleaner with a number of flexible hoses sprouting from the top. The whole machine was three-quarters submerged in clinging mud. Off to the right a derrick floated hub-deep in slime; grapplers from it were clinging to the dredge and the derrick was heaving and splashing like a trapped hippopotamus. All about the submerged machine were Mud-pups, working like strange little beavers as the man supervising ...

— The Native Soil • Alan Edward Nourse

... on, and say that if anybody had been looking out of Mrs. Derrick's window he or she might have seen—what Mrs. Derrick really saw! For she was looking out of the window (or rather through the blind) at the critical moment that afternoon. It would be too much to say ...

— Say and Seal, Volume I • Susan Warner

... dimly, the spot where the stone was being quarried, and, as he recognized it, he laughed aloud with a sort of desperate joy, because of the plunge he intended to take. He threw the throttle wide open, and after another moment he saw the derrick loom before him. With careful deliberation, he turned ...

— The Last Woman • Ross Beeckman

... and uncouth Lot, with an atrophied Sense of Humor, and the Prank did not Appeal to them. They asked the Joker to Explain, and before he could make it Clear to them or consult his Attorney they had him Suspended from a Derrick. He did not Hang straight enough to suit, so they brought a Keg of Nails and tied to his Feet, and then stood off and Shot at the Buttons on ...

— More Fables • George Ade

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