Etymology Named after British executioner Thomas Derrick, who invented the framework arrangement commonly known by this name to aid in the conduct of executions. First use appears c. 1600 in the publication Ballad Death Earl Essex.
1
A device that is used for lifting and moving large objects.
They count their ships full tale— / Their corn and oil and wine, / Derrick and loom and bale, / And rampart’s gun-flecked line; / City by City they hail: / “Hast aught to match with mine?”1894, Rudyard Kipling, To the City of Bombay:
At some places it is possible to load or discharge a vessel without any expenditure on docks or wharves, by dealing with the cargo by hand, or by the ships derricks, or by means of floating discharging appliances while the vessel it moored to buoys in a tideway. […] At low tide it may be impracticable to use a ship's derricks [at a berth].1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, pages 9, 10:
2
A framework that is constructed over a mine or oil well for the purpose of boring or lowering pipes.
3
Obsolete An executioner responsible for hanging convicts; a hangman.
Etymology Named after British executioner Thomas Derrick, who invented the framework arrangement commonly known by this name to aid in the conduct of executions. First use appears c. 1600 in the publication Ballad Death Earl Essex.
Stinky, who had batted a bit over .200 with scant power (two home runs in 66 games in 1933), was being derricked by Navin.2012, Ray Robinson, High and Tight:
As a rule, when the twirler is derricked, it is because the members of the opposition are beginning to take undue familiarity with his offerings. But this is not always the reason.2014, Addie Joss, Gary Mitchem, Addie Joss on Baseball, page 96: