Prick

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɹɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɪk

From Middle English prik, prikke, from Old English prica, pricu ("a sharp point, minute mark, spot, dot, small portion, prick"), from Proto-Germanic *prik- ("a prick, point"). Cognate with West Frisian prik ("small hole"), Dutch prik ("point, small stick"), Danish prik ("dot"), Icelandic prik ("dot, small stick"). Pejorative context came from prickers, or witch-hunters.

Full definition of prick

Noun

1. A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing. from 10th c.
2. An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object. from 10th c.
3. (obsolete) A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point. 10th-18th c.
4. (obsolete) A tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot. 10th-18th c.
5. A small pointed object. from 10th c.
• ShakespearePins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary.
• Bible, Acts ix. 5It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
6. The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object. from 13th c.I felt a sharp prick as the nurse took a sample of blood.
• A. Tuckerthe pricks of conscience
7. (slang, vulgar) The penis. from 16th c.
8. (slang, pejorative) Someone (especially a man or boy) who is unpleasant, rude or annoying. from 16th c.
9. (now historical) A small roll of yarn or tobacco. from 17th c.
10. The footprint of a hare.
11. (obsolete) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
• Shakespearethe prick of noon
12. (obsolete) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.
• Spenserthey that shooten nearest the prick

Derived terms

• pricker
• prickle
• prickly
• pricktease
• prickteaser

From Middle English prikken, from Old English prician ("to prick"), from Proto-Germanic *prik- ("to pierce, prick"). Cognate with English dialectal pritch, Dutch prikken ("to prick, sting"), Middle High German pfrecken ("to prick"), Swedish pricka ("to dot, prick").

Verb

1. (transitive) To pierce or puncture slightly. from 11th c.John hardly felt the needle prick his arm when the adept nurse drew blood.
2. (transitive) To form by piercing or puncturing.to prick holes in paperto prick a pattern for embroideryto prick the notes of a musical composition
3. (intransitive, dated) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.A sore finger pricks.
4. (transitive) To incite, stimulate, goad. from 13th c.
• unknown date, Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 7.My duty pricks me on to utter that.
5. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
• Bible, Acts ii. 37Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.
• TennysonI was pricked with some reproof.
6. (intransitive, archaic) To urge one's horse on; to ride quickly. from 14th c.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:At last, as through an open plaine they yode,
  They spide a knight that towards them pricked fayre ....
• 1881, , :Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
7. (transitive, chiefly nautical) To mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart). from 16th c.
8. (nautical, obsolete) To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail. (The Universal Dictionary of the English Language, 1896)
9. (transitive) To make acidic or pungent.
10. (intransitive) To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
11. To aim at a point or mark.
12. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.to prick a knife into a board
• SandysThe cooks prick it slice on a prong of iron.
13. (obsolete) To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.
• Francis BaconSome who are pricked for sheriffs.
• Sir Walter ScottLet the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off.
• ShakespeareThose many, then, shall die: their names are pricked.
14. To make sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; said especially of the ears of an animal, such as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up.
• DrydenThe courser ... pricks up his ears.
15. (obsolete) To dress; to prink; usually with up.
16. (farriery) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.