Hickman

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of English origin borne by many people ; a long flexible tube, tunneled under the skin into a large vein, used for repeated medical treatment
2. A common surname of English origin ; a type of tunneled catheter placed in a major vein to give drugs or draw blood over a long period
3. A surname carried by numerous individuals ; a tunneled central line inserted into a large vein for prolonged intravenous therapy or blood sampling

Etymology: Hickman is a surname, and its first part, "Hick," was once a pet form of the given name Richard, much as "Dick" still is. Medieval English was full of such nicknames, and a name like Hickman was typically built by attaching "man" to a personal name. In surnames, "man" most likely meant a servant or follower, so the original sense was roughly "Hick's man," someone who worked for or belonged to a man named Hick. The surname's history is therefore a record of a personal name rather than of a common word. The same "Hick" also gave rise to the unrelated, later word for a rustic countryman, so the familiar sense and the surname share a source only in the given name.