dial. Also 6 wysket(e, -cet, wiskyt, wiscat, 7–8 wiskett, 9 w(h)iskit, whiskett. [orig. and mainly north. dial.; ? derived (with -ET) from the stem represented by the Scand. forms quoted s.v. WHISK sb.1] Local name for a basket, of various kinds and uses.
1542. in Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc., 1857), 81. iiij stone and a half in ij grete wyscettis of wole; in another wisket xxx pond…; in another wisket xxtl pound.
1570. Levins, Manip., 87/23. A Wysket, sportula.
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, 53. A Whisket, a Basket, a skuttle, or shallow Ped.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 173/2. A Wisket, or Straw-basket, in which Provender is given Cows or Oxen.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., E 2. Poor people … that go daily to the Mines, carry a small Wiskett and a Hammer along with them.
1828. Craven Gloss., Whisket, a small clothes basket.
1838. R. Owen, in Life (1894), I. iv. 139. A wisket of lovely grapes.
1897. ‘O. Rhoscomyl,’ White Rose Arno, 243. They’ll tumble up from below like whelps from a wisket.
Comb. 1621. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 248. To the wiskett maker,… iijs.
