/piːk/, /pik/
OriginThe verb is borrowed from French piquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry; to provoke, stimulate; (reflexive) to boast about”), from Middle French piquer, picquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry”), from Old French piquer (“to pierce with the tip of a sword”), from proto-Romance or Vulgar Latin *pīccare (“to sting; to strike”) or *pikkāre, and then either:
* Onomatopoeic; or
* from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to knock; to peck; to pick; to prick”). If so, pique is a doublet of pick, pitch, and peck.
The noun is borrowed from Middle French pique (“a quarrel; resentment”) (modern French pique), from piquer, picquer (verb); see above.
- transitiveTo wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend.
“The Dev'l was piqu'd, ſuch ſaintſhip to behold, / And long'd to tempt him like good Job of old: / But Satan novv is vviſer than of yore, / And tempts by making rich, not making poor.”
“Brisk Confidence still best with woman copes; / Pique her and soothe in turn, soon Passion crowns thy hopes.”
“His chusing to walk with her, she had learnt to understand. It was done to pique Miss Brereton.” — Sanditon
- transitiveTo excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
“I believe this will pique your interest.”
“I have been hugely involved in the operational side until this point, but now I can speak to operators and other businesses such as American and European companies, because we seem to have piqued inte”
- reflexive, transitiveTo pride (oneself) on something.
“[G]ood Nature may be ſetled in them [children] into a Habit, and they may take pleaſure and pique themſelves in being kind, liberal, and civil to others.”
“The American hunters pique themselves on their skill in shooting Racoons; which, from the extraordinary vigilance and cunning of the animals, is by no means an easy task.”
“She piqued herself on writing a hand in which each letter was distinguishable without any large range of conjecture, and she meant to make much use of this accomplishment, to save Mr. Casaubon’s eyes.”
- obsolete, reflexive, transitiveTo excite or stimulate (oneself).
- intransitiveTo take pride in.
- intransitiveTo excite to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest.
“Piqu'd by Protogenes's Fame, / From Co to Rhodes, Apelles came; / To ſee a Rival and a Friend, / Prepar'd to Cenſure, or Commend, […]”
- intransitive, obsolete, rareTo express jealousy, resentment, etc. at someone; to become angry or annoyed.
“For I obſerve, that all vvomen of your condition are like the vvomen of the Play-houſe, ſtill Piquing at each other, vvho ſhall go the beſt Dreſt, and in the Richeſt Habits: till you vvork up one anot”
- ambitransitive, archaic, obsoleteTo score a pique against (someone).
“My villainous old luck ſtill follovvs me in gaming, I never throvv the Dice out of my hand, but my Gold goes after 'em: if I go to Picquet, though it be but vvith a Novice in't, he vvill picque and re”
“He seemed perfectly to understand the beautiful game at which he played, but preferred, as it were on principle, the risking bold and precarious strokes to the ordinary rules of play, and neglecting t”
- uncountableEnmity, ill feeling; (countable) a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
“Men take up piques and diſpleaſures at others, and then every opinion of the diſliked perſon muſt partake of his fate, and be engaged in the quarrel: […]”
“[H]e ſhew'd himself, out of ſome little pique, the moſt bitter enemy againſt the K[ing, i.e., Charles I of England] in all the Houſe [of Parliament], as well in action as ſpeech; […]”
“This dog and man at firſt were friends; / But when a pique began, / The dog, to gain his private ends, / Went mad and bit the man.”
- uncountableIrritation or resentment awakened by a social injury or slight; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little consideration or thought; (countable) especially in fit of pique: a transient feeling of wounded pride.
“Tuſh! tuſh! you take the grave peake uppon you too much: who would think you could ſo eaſily ſhake off your olde friendes?”
“Pray, my Lord, take no picque at it: 'tis not given to all men to be confident: […]”
“"'Tis because you are an indifferent person," said Lucy, with some pique, and laying a particular stress on those words, "that your judgment must justly have such weight with me.["]”
- countable, obsoleteIn pique of honour: a matter, a point.
“Add long preſcription of eſtabliſh'd laws, / And picque of honour to maintain a cauſe, / And ſhame of change, and fear of future ill, / And Zeal, the blind conductor of the will; […]”
- In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
“Flip[panta]. Hark thee, Braſs, the Game's in our hands, if we can but play the Cards. / Br[ass]. Pique and Repique, you Jade you: If the Wives will fall into a good Intelligence.”
- obsoleteA chigger, chigoe, or jigger (Tunga penetrans), a species of tropical flea.
- midgie, sand fly, punkie, punky (US)
- obsolete, rareSynonym of pica (“a disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances”).
“The World is nat'rally averse / To all the truth it sees or hears, / But swallows Non-sense and a Lie / With greediness and gluttony; / And though it have the Pique, and long, / 'Tis still for somethi”
Formspiques(present, singular, third-person) · piquing(participle, present) · piqued(participle, past) · piqued(past) · piques(plural)