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creek

Pronunciation: /kriːk/

Translate creek | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of creek

noun

chiefly British
  • a narrow, sheltered waterway, especially an inlet in a shoreline or channel in a marsh: a sandy beach in a sheltered creek
  • North American & Australian/NZ a stream or minor tributary of a river: [in place names]:he drove into Adam’s Creek

Phrases

be up the creek

informal
  • 1 (also be up the creek without a paddle) be in severe difficulty or trouble, especially with no means of extricating oneself from it: if the police raided us I’d be up the creek
  • 2British be stupid or misguided: he said my idea of Catholicism was up the creek

be up shit creek

see shit.

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French crique or from Old Norse kriki 'nook'; perhaps reinforced by Middle Dutch krēke; of unknown ultimate origin

creek in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of creek in the US English dictionary