creel

/kril/

Other forms: creels

The basket used to hold a fish after it's caught is a creel. When you head out with your fishing pole to catch something for dinner, be sure to remember your creel!

Creel has a Scottish origin, and it originally meant "a basket for carrying on the back." The earliest fishing creels were made of wicker, and most of them still are today. Sometimes an angler will keep the fish cool inside the creel by lining it with moss and dipping it in a river or creek. This word is also used to mean "lobster trap," most commonly in Scotland.

Definitions of creel

1. noun

   a wicker basket used by anglers to hold fish
   type of:

   basket, handbasket

   a container that is usually woven and has handles