Sekirov Dictionary

prick

/pɹɪk/

noun 13
verb 18
forms 5
phrases 2

noun13

A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
(slang, offensive) a man who is rude and unkind to other people
•
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.
(slang, vulgar) The penis.
An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object.
•
A small pointed object.
- Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary. — 1603
(historical) A small roll of yarn or tobacco.
The footprint of a hare.
(no longer used) A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point.
(no longer used) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
(no longer used) A tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot.
(no longer used) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.

verb18

•
To pierce or puncture slightly.
- John hardly felt the needle prick his arm when the adept nurse drew blood.
To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.
•
To 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. — 1871
•
To form by piercing or puncturing.
- to prick holes in paper
•
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.
•
To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
- Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. — 1611
•
(old-fashioned) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
- A sore finger pricks.
•
Usually in the form prick out: to plant (seeds or seedlings) in holes made in soil at regular intervals.
- 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. — 2015
•
To incite, stimulate, goad.
- My duty pricks me on to utter that. — 1590
•
To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
- The cooks [...]prick it [a slice] on a prog of iron. — 1615
To mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart).
•
To make acidic or pungent.
- For then their late Attracts decline, And turn as eager as prick'd Wine — 1662
To 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. — 1545
•
(no longer used) To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.
- Some who are pricked for sheriffs. — 1620
•
(no longer used) To 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 [...]. — 1590
(no longer used) To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail.
(no longer used) to dress or adorn; to prink.

forms

pricked · prickt · pricking · pricketh · pricks

Phrases with prick

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