/pɹɪk/, [pʰɹ̠̊ɪk]
OriginFrom Middle English prik, prikke, from Old English prica, pricu (“a sharp point, minute mark, spot, dot, small portion, prick”), from Proto-West Germanic *prikō, *priku, from Proto-Germanic *prikô, *prikō (“a prick, point”), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *breyǵ- (“to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap”).
Cognate with West Frisian prik (“small hole”), West Frisian prikke (“penis”), Dutch prik (“point, small stick", also "penis”), Danish prik (“dot”), Icelandic prik (“dot, small stick”).
- A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
- An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object.
- obsoleteA dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point.
- obsoleteA tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot.
- A small pointed object.
“Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary.”
“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
- The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object.
“I felt a sharp prick as the nurse took a sample of blood.”
- A feeling of remorse.
“1768–1777, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued
the pricks of conscience”
- historicalA small roll of yarn or tobacco.
- The footprint of a hare.
- obsoleteA point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
- obsoleteThe point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.
“they that shooten nearest the prick”
- transitiveTo pierce or puncture slightly.
“John hardly felt the needle prick his arm when the adept nurse drew blood.”
- transitiveTo drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.
- transitiveTo shoot without killing.
“They had shot at old Tom, the hare, too, but he is still alive; at least I pricked him yesterday morn across the path into the turnip field.”
- transitiveTo form by piercing or puncturing.
“to prick holes in paper”
“to prick a pattern for embroidery”
“to prick the notes of a musical composition”
- obsoleteTo mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.
“c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers
Some who are pricked for sheriffs.”
“And, hark ye—let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off; and see that none of them be more or less partakers of your debauch.”
“Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked.”
- transitiveTo mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart).
- obsoleteTo run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail.
- To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
“The cooks [...]prick it [a slice] on a prog of iron.”
“I caused the edges of two knives to be ground truly strait; and pricking their points into a board, so that their edges might look towards one another, and, meeting near their points, contain a rectil”
- dated, intransitiveTo be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
“A sore finger pricks.”
“By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes.”
- ambitransitiveTo make or become 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.
“The dog's ears pricked up at the sound of a whistle.”
“The courser [...] pricks up his ears.”
- Usually in the form prick out: to plant (seeds or seedlings) in holes made in soil at regular intervals.
“Seed should be sown thinly and evenly to enable seedlings to be pricked out without disturbing those that have just emerged. If there is space, seedlings should be pricked out individually, either int”
“All three germinate well in pots and can be pricked out and potted on with no problems. [...] Grass seeds can be collected as the heads begin to break up. Sow them in late spring, prick out small bund”
“Geoff might prefer to "take control": to collect seed and sow it next spring, pricking out a few of the best seedlings, growing them on in pots next summer before planting them out in the autumn.”
- transitiveTo incite, stimulate, goad.
“My duty pricks me on to utter that.”
- archaic, intransitiveTo urge one's horse on; to ride quickly.
“At last, as through an open plaine they yode,
They spide a knight that towards them pricked fayre [...].”
“Part, on the plain or in the air sublime, / Upon the wing or in swift race contend, / As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields; / Part curb their fiery steed, or shun the goal / With rapid wheel, or”
“Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley of the Shadow of Death.”
- To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.”
“[…] I was prick'd with some reproof, / As one that let foul wrong stagnate and be, / By having look'd too much thro' alien eyes, / And wrought too long with delegated hands, / Not used mine own: […]”
“Three days remained till Beltane's Eve, and throughout this time it was noted that Heriotside behaved like one possessed. It may be that his conscience pricked him, or that he had a glimpse of his sin”
- transitiveTo make acidic or pungent.
“For then their late Attracts decline,
And turn as eager as prick'd Wine”
- intransitiveTo become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
- To aim at a point or mark.
“This prayse belongeth to stronge shootinge and drawinge of mightye bowes, not to prickinge, and nere shootinge.”
“With Broad-arrow, or But, or Prick, or Rouing Shaft, At Markes full fortie score, they vs'd to Prick, and Roue.”
- obsolete, usuallyto dress or adorn; to prink.
Formspricks(plural) · pricks(present, singular, third-person) · pricking(participle, present) · pricked(participle, past) · pricked(past)