tice

See also: Tice, -tice, tiče, and tǐcè

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Possibly from entice, as below, suggesting the bowler's purpose.

Noun

tice (plural tices)

1. (cricket, dated) A ball bowled to strike the ground about a bat's length in front of the wicket; a yorker.
   • 1862, James Picroft, The Cricket-Field, Or The History and the Science of the Game of Cricket, page 120:

     Bowlers should practise both toss and tice.

   • 1863 March 7, “The Complete Guide to the Cricket Field: Chapter III: The Batsman”, in The Boy's Miscellany: An Illustrated Journal of Useful and Entertaining Literature for Youth, volume 1, page 155:

     The tice is almost a full pitch. If you have a long reach, go in and play forward; if not, however, keep your bat down, and block it.

   • 1870 July, The Wykehamist, Number 33, page 1,

     Raynor, though somewhat wild, obtained an extraordinary number of wickets for very few runs, his fast "tices" quite puzzling the Eton bats.

   • 1911, Henry Charles Howard Suffolk and Berkshire (Earl of), Hedley Peek, Frederick George Aflalo, The Encyclopaedia of Sport & Games, Volume 1, page 452,

     A "yorker" (or "tice") pitches on, or within six inches of, the popping crease; […] .

2. (croquet) A ball left at a hittable but difficult distance or position, to lure the opponent into a mistake.

Synonyms

• (ball bowled to strike the pitch near the batsman's feet): yorker

Etymology 2

Aphetic form of entice.

Verb

tice (third-person singular simple present tices, present participle ticing, simple past and past participle ticed)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To entice (someone).
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     VVhat ſtrong enchantments tice my yeelding ſoule […]

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Have I not reaſon, think you, to look pale? / These tvvo have ’ticed me hither to this place: […]

   • [1633], George Herbert, “The Forerunners”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 171:

     Hath ſome fond lover tic'd thee to thy bane? / And vvilt thou leave the Church, and love a ſtie?

References

• “tice”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• -etic, CETI, EITC, cite, etic