Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A wicker basket, especially one used by anglers for carrying fish.
  • noun A frame for holding bobbins or spools in a spinning machine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In angling, to put into the creel; hence, to capture: as, he creeled fifty trout.
  • noun An osier basket or pannier.
  • noun A basket or cage for catching lobsters or crabs.
  • noun In angling, fish that are placed in a creel; the catch.
  • noun In a spinning-machine, a framework for holding bobbins or spools.
  • noun A kind of frame used for slaughtering sheep upon.
  • noun Also crail.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An osier basket, such as anglers use.
  • noun (Spinning) A bar or set of bars with skewers for holding paying-off bobbins, as in the roving machine, throstle, and mule.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun fishing An osier basket, such as anglers use to hold fish.
  • noun A bar or set of bars with skewers for holding paying-off bobbins, as in the roving machine, throstle, and mule.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a wicker basket used by anglers to hold fish

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English crel, from Old French *creille, latticework, from Latin crātīcula, gridiron, diminutive of crātis, wickerwork.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Uncertain. Possibly from Middle English crele, from a Old French root *creille, variant of greille (cf. French grille), from Latin crāticula. The English word may also have been of Scottish origin originally.

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Examples

  • The diftincHou teems hardly necefiarv, fince the term creel or up - right is taken fo loofely.

    The language of botany : being a dictionary of the terms made use of in that science, principally by Linneus ... 1793

  • REGULATIONS: The daily creel is four trout under 12 inches, although guide services are typically catch-and-release only.

    Trout Fishing in the Desert of Marble Canyon 2004

  • Now, a fisherman can always throw a catch he doesn't like back, but, ultimately, no matter how cunning and patient a sportsman he is, what ends up in his creel is really up to the fish.

    INTERVIEW: John C. Wright 2004

  • A creel is the woven basket a fisherman keeps his catch in, but I can't see how that could enter into the equation.

    The Burglar On The Prowl Block, Lawrence 2004

  • In his creel were a dozen trout, for the speckled beauties had been rising to the fly that skipped across the top of the riffles as naturally as life.

    A Daughter of the Dons A Story of New Mexico Today William MacLeod Raine 1912

  • The Cullercoats fishwife, with her cheerful weather-bronzed face, her short jacket and ample skirts of blue flannel, and her heavily laden "creel" of fish is not only appreciated by the brotherhood of brush and pencil, but is one of the notable sights of the district.

    Northumberland Yesterday and To-day 1908

  • Denis Donohoe whistled merrily that night as he piled the donkey cart, or "creel," with the sods of turf.

    Waysiders Seumas O'Kelly 1899

  • "creel," and in her hands another basket containing cooked prawns, lobsters or other temptation to the gourmand.

    Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 Various

  • One of the main reasons we have so much good fishing is because of us, the fishermen, a portion of the money we spend on our sport goes back into the fisheries, along with some decent fisheries management, exceptional waters and views, add in some creel limits and it is all good.

    The Catch-And-Release Preacher 2009

  • One of the main reasons we have so much good fishing is because of us, the fishermen, a portion of the money we spend on our sport goes back into the fisheries, along with some decent fisheries management, exceptional waters and views, add in some creel limits and it is all good.

    The Catch-And-Release Preacher 2009

Comments

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  • "He laid his rod against a tree and swung the creel from his shoulder, woven reeds creaking with the weight of the catch."

    —Diana Gabaldon, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (New York: Bantam Dell, 2005), 422

    "The glow of recognized achievement did quite a bit to dampen her resentment... The presence of a bottle of cider in Jamie's creel, keeping cold amongst the dead trout, did a lot more."

    A Breath of Snow and Ashes, 424

    February 1, 2010

  • A bench for killing pigs. One of the very few Celtic words still used in Yorkshire.

    March 3, 2010