Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sexual intercourse.

c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 13: Nobody gave a damn what they were after they went upstairs for wick-dipping or neuf-soixante.
1968		(con. mid-late19C) S. Longstreet Wilder Shore 216: Frenching, seafood mama, wick dipping.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 60: I had him down as a factory worker up for his annual wick-dipping in Soho.

of a man, to have sexual intercourse.

1834		‘Dip, The Tallow Chandler’ in Flash Chaunter 28: When in the tub I dip my wick, / What melting moments then, / I burn with rapture and delight, / And draw it out again. / Then, when it’s cold and stiff it stands, / I dip it in once more, / Until it melts, then out it comes, / Much limper than before.
c.1930		(ref. to late 19C) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 133: He could come to get his ashes hauled, his wick dipped – both expressions popular in these middle class joints.
1948		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 279: Don’t dip your wick in a Wac.
1959		G. Hamilton Summer Glare 25: She’s gonna see yer don’t go dippin’ yer wick again with them Rule girls.
1960		A. Burgess Right to an Answer (1978) 140: ‘I called out, “Turn the bloody wick up, Bertie.”.’ [...] ‘And did this gentleman do what you requested?’ ‘He was very fond of dipping it,’ said the vicar. ‘Ha ha’.
1967		J. Hibberd White with Wire Wheels (1973) 224: One of us will dip his wick before the night’s out.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 59: If you can dip your wick when all about you / Are punching turds or playing wanker’s whist ...
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 106: ‘When was the last time you got laid?’ ‘The last time I dipped my wick was April 13, 1972’.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 94: You don’t have to go much farther than the lobby of an upmarket hotel in New York City if you need to dip the wick in a hurry.
1987		(con. 1930s) L. Redmond Emerald Square 305: One of the ugliest bastards from our class at school had been dipping his wick for over two years now with a servant girl.
1999		Hip-Hop Connection Apr. 29: I’m talking [...] about dipping your wick where it shouldn’t go.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 56/2: dip the wick v. to have sexual intercourse.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 123: They only care about one thing [...] Dipping their wick in a piece of ass.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] Father Delaney is happily dipping his wick into the altar boys.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 90: ‘That girl’s got your nose open, and you ain’t even dipped your wick’.

see in one’s ballocks under ballocks n.

of a man, to have sexual intercourse [phr. reinforced by Hampton (Wick) n. (1)].

1974

D. Mamet Sexual Perversity in Chicago (1994) 59: If you do get laid [...] If you do manage to moisten the old wick.