Pricking

Pricking
Prick Prick, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pricked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pricking}.] [AS. prician; akin to LG. pricken, D. prikken, Dan. prikke, Sw. pricka. See {Prick}, n., and cf. {Prink}, {Prig}.] 1. To pierce slightly with a sharp-pointed instrument or substance; to make a puncture in, or to make by puncturing; to drive a fine point into; as, to prick one with a pin, needle, etc.; to prick a card; to prick holes in paper. [1913 Webster]

2. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing; as, to prick a knife into a board. --Sir I. Newton. [1913 Webster]

The cooks prick it [a slice] on a prong of iron. --Sandys. [1913 Webster]

3. To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark; -- sometimes with off. [1913 Webster]

Some who are pricked for sheriffs. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

4. To mark the outline of by puncturing; to trace or form by pricking; to mark by punctured dots; as, to prick a pattern for embroidery; to prick the notes of a musical composition. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]

5. To ride or guide with spurs; to spur; to goad; to incite; to urge on; -- sometimes with on, or off. [1913 Webster]

Who pricketh his blind horse over the fallows. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

The season pricketh every gentle heart. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

My duty pricks me on to utter that. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

6. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse. ``I was pricked with some reproof.'' --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. --Acts ii. 37. [1913 Webster]

7. To make sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; -- said especially of the ears of an animal, as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up; -- hence, to prick up the ears, to listen sharply; to have the attention and interest strongly engaged. ``The courser . . . pricks up his ears.'' --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

8. To render acid or pungent. [Obs.] --Hudibras. [1913 Webster]

9. To dress; to prink; -- usually with up. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

10. (Naut) (a) To run a middle seam through, as the cloth of a sail. (b) To trace on a chart, as a ship's course. [1913 Webster]

11. (Far.) (a) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness. (b) To nick. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • Pricking — Prick ing, n. 1. The act of piercing or puncturing with a sharp point. There is that speaketh like the prickings of a sword. Prov. xii. 18 [1583]. [1913 Webster] 2. (Far.) (a) The driving of a nail into a horse s foot so as to produce lameness.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Pricking-up — Prick ing up, n. (Arch.) The first coating of plaster in work of three coats upon laths. Its surface is scratched once to form a better key for the next coat. In the United States called {scratch coat}. Brande & C. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • pricking — index bitter (penetrating) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • pricking — [prikiŋ] n. 1. the act or process of one that pricks 2. a prickly feeling …   English World dictionary

  • Pricking — This article is about the 16th and 17th century practice of pricking witches. For other uses of the word, see prick. During the height of the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries, common belief held that a witch could be discovered through …   Wikipedia

  • pricking — the process of piercing the swimbladders of deep water fish, especially cod, before placing the fish in the well …   Dictionary of ichthyology

  • pricking — /prik ing/, n. 1. the act of a person or thing that pricks. 2. a prickly or smarting sensation. [bef. 1000; ME; OE pricung; see PRICK, ING1] * * * …   Universalium

  • pricking — n. act of making small holes, act of piercing prɪk n. stab, puncture; ache, pain; penis (Slang) v. stab with a sharp object; perforate, pierce …   English contemporary dictionary

  • pricking — noun the act of puncturing with a small point he gave the balloon a small prick • Syn: ↑prick • Derivationally related forms: ↑prick, ↑prick (for: ↑prick) • …   Useful english dictionary

  • pricking-up — | ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ noun ( s) : scratch coat …   Useful english dictionary

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