prick

English

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prick

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪk/,

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪk

Etymology 1

From 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”).

Noun

prick (plural pricks)

1. A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
2. An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object.
3. (obsolete) A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point.
4. (obsolete) A tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot.
5. A small pointed object.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Acts 9:5:

     It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6. 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.

7. A feeling of remorse.
   • 1768–1777, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued

     the pricks of conscience

8. (slang, vulgar) The penis.
9. (slang, derogatory) Someone (especially a man or boy) who is unpleasant, rude or annoying.
10. (now historical) A small roll of yarn or tobacco.
11. The footprint of a hare.
12. (obsolete) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      the prick of noon

13. (obsolete) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.
    • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “September. Aegloga Nona.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: , London: Hugh Singleton, , →OCLC; reprinted as H Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender , London: John C. Nimmo, , 1890, →OCLC:

      they that shooten nearest the prick

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English prikken, from Old English prician, priccan (“to prick”), from Proto-Germanic *prikōną, *prikjaną (“to pierce, prick”), of uncertain origin; perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *breyǵ- (“to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap”). Cognate with dialectal English pritch, Dutch prikken (“to prick, sting”), Middle High German pfrecken (“to prick”), Swedish pricka (“to dot, prick”), and possibly to Lithuanian įbrėžti (“to scrape, scratch, carve, inscribe, strike”).

Verb

prick (third-person singular simple present pricks, present participle pricking, simple past and past participle pricked)

1. (transitive) To pierce or puncture slightly.

   John hardly felt the needle prick his arm when the adept nurse drew blood.

   1. (farriery) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.
   2. (transitive, hunting) To shoot without killing.
      • 1871, Robert Smith Surtees, Jorrocks's jaunts and jollities, page 48:

        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.

2. (transitive) To form by piercing or puncturing.

   to prick holes in paper

   to prick a pattern for embroidery

   to prick the notes of a musical composition

   • 1782, William Cowper, “On the Receipt of my Mother’s Picture out of Norfolk”, in Poems, London: J Johnson, , →OCLC:

     When, playing with thy vestute's tissued flowers,
     The violet, the pink, and jessamine,
     I pricked them into paper with a pit

3. (obsolete) To 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.

   • 1823, [Walter Scott], “The Enrolment”, in Quentin Durward. , volume I, Edinburgh: [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 166:

     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.

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked.

4. (transitive, chiefly nautical) To mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart).
5. (nautical, obsolete) To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail.
6. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
   • 1615, George Sandys, “(please specify the page)”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. , London: [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC:

     The cooks [...]prick it [a slice] on a prog of iron.

   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. , London: Sam Smith, and Benj Walford, printers to the Royal Society, , →OCLC:

     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 rectilinear angle

7. (intransitive, dated) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.

   A sore finger pricks.

   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes.

8. (transitive, intransitive) To 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.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:

     The courser [...] pricks up his ears.

9. (horticulture) Usually in the form prick out: to plant (seeds or seedlings) in holes made in soil at regular intervals.
   • 2002 July 6, Carol Klein, “Coming up primroses”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎, archived from the original on 15 February 2013:

     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 into small pots or module trays.

   • 2005 October 22, Valerie Bourne, “Self-seeding”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎, archived from the original on 24 November 2013:

     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 bundles of seedlings into 7.5cm (3in) pots and transplant them in late May.

   • 2015 September 21, Helen Yemm, “How to manage hollyhocks [print version: Hollyhock and elder care, evil weevils, 12 September 2015, page 7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎, archived from the original on 25 September 2015:

     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.

10. (transitive) To incite, stimulate, goad.
    • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      My duty pricks me on to utter that.

11. (intransitive, archaic) To urge one's horse on; to ride quickly.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

      At last, as through an open plaine they yode,
      They spide a knight that towards them pricked fayre [...].

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 527-538:

      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 fronted brigads form : / As when, to warn proud cities, war appears / Waged in the trouble sky, and armies rush / To battle in the clouds; before each van / Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears / Till thickest legions close; with feats of arms / From either end of heaven the welkin burns.

    • 1874–1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C Kegan Paul & Co., , published 1881, →OCLC:

      Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

12. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Acts 2:37:

      Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.

    • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., , →OCLC, page 93:

      […] 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: […]

    • 1902 January, John Buchan, “The Outgoing of the Tide”, in The Watcher by the Threshold, and Other Tales, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1902, →OCLC, page 250:

      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 and its coming punishment.

13. (transitive) To make acidic or pungent.
    • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. , London: John Martyn and Henry Herringman, , published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:

      For then their late Attracts decline,
      And turn as eager as prick'd Wine

14. (intransitive) To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
15. To aim at a point or mark.
    • 1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. , London: Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, , London: R and J Dodsley, , and J Newbery, , 1761, →OCLC:

      This prayse belongeth to stronge shootinge and drawinge of mightye bowes, not to prickinge, and nere shootinge.

    • 1612, Michael Drayton, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, , London: H L for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, →OCLC:

      With Broad-arrow, or But, or Prick, or Rouing Shaft, At Markes full fortie score, they vs'd to Prick, and Roue.

16. (obsolete, usually as prick up) to dress or adorn; to prink.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “prick”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Swedish

Etymology

From Middle Low German pricken, from Old Saxon *prikkian, from the verb Proto-Germanic *prikjaną (“to prick”).

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Adverb

prick

1. on the dot, exactly, sharp

   vi träffas prick klockan sju

   we'll meet at seven o'clock sharp

2. with careful aim (in order to hit something)

   att skjuta prick

   to shoot at a mark / snipe

   De sköt prick på en melon

   They used a melon as a target ("They shot with careful aim at a melon")

Noun

prick c

1. a dot, small spot

   Sista bokstaven i det svenska alfabetet är "ö", det vill säga ett "o" med två prickar över.

   The last letter in the Swedish alphabet is "ö", that is, an "o" with two dots over it.

   att skjuta prick ― to shoot for a target

2. a mark, a stain (in a record of good behavior)

   Han har haft körkort i 40 år och kört utan prickar

   He's had a driver's license for 40 years and has received zero driving infractions

3. a guy, person; especially about a particularly nice or funny one

   Det var en riktigt trevlig prick, det där.

   That was a really nice guy, there.

4. a floating seamark in the form of a painted pole, possibly with cones, lights and reflectors

   Ser du om pricken därborta är en nord eller en ost?

   Can you see whether the mark over there is a north mark or an east mark?

Usage notes

(guy, person): Mainly used in conjunction with the adjectives rolig (“funny”) or trevlig (“nice”), but also ruskig (“eerie, scary”).

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

• pricka
• prickig

See also

• sjömärke

References

• prick in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• prick in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• prick in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)