Word of the Day: Creak and Creek

creak

creak / krēk

noun

1.     a harsh grating or squeaking sound

The wind too was rising and filling the house with ghostly creaks.

From “Diane of the Green Van” by Leona Dalrymple, 1884 – 1965

verb

1.     to make or cause to make a harsh grating or squeaking sound

The tempest threatens before it comes; houses creak before they fall.

Seneca the Younger, 4 BC – 65 AD

2.     to make a harsh grating or squeaking sound while moving

A loaded wagon creaks; an empty one rattles.

German Proverb

creek

creek / krēk, krĭk

noun

1.     a stream smaller than a river and larger than a brook

Don’t taunt the alligator until after you’ve crossed the creek.

Dan Rather, 1931 –

2.     a stream or channel going through a coastal marsh

After a little, my way was stopped by a creek or inlet of the sea, which seemed to run pretty deep into the land; and as I had no means to get across, I must needs change my direction to go about the end of it.

From “Kidnapped” by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1850 – 1894

3.     (Creek) a member of a Native American confederacy that originally inhabited areas of Georgia, Alabama and northwest Florida; also the language spoken by such

The remnants of the Mohicans, and the Delawares, of the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees, are destined to fulfil their time on these vast plains.

From “The Prairie” by James Fenimore Cooper, 1789 – 1851