# prick

Pronunciation: say "PRIK" /pɹɪk/

## Verb

1. To pierce something slightly with a sharp point, or to make small holes or a pattern in it in this way.
   - Simple: To make a tiny hole or holes in something with a sharp point, such as a pin, needle, or fork.
   - _Prick the sausages with a fork before you grill them._
   - _The nurse pricked his fingertip to check his blood sugar._
5. To raise something pointed, or to stand up in a point, especially of an animal's ears; usually followed by up.
   - Simple: To lift or stand up into a point, like a dog's ears when it hears something.
   - _Deer prick up their ears at the faintest snap of a twig._
   - _Her ears pricked up when someone mentioned a job opening._
6. To cause someone a sharp pain, especially a stinging feeling of remorse.
   - Simple: To make someone feel a sudden sharp pain, often of guilt.
   - _Memories of the argument still prick her whenever she hears his name._
   - _A sense of shame pricked him, and he went back to return the extra change._
8. To be punctured, or to feel a sharp pain as though from a puncture.
   - Simple: To get a small hole, or to feel a sharp pain like a pin going in.
   - _His eyes began to prick as he read the last lines of the letter._
   - _His skin pricked all over as the icy wind hit it._
9. In gardening, usually as prick out: to lift young seedlings from where they sprouted and replant them farther apart, in pots, trays, or a bed.
   - Simple: In gardening, to move tiny young plants from where they sprouted into their own pots or into wider spaces.
   - _Prick out the strongest lettuce seedlings and space them a few inches apart._
   - _Once the basil had been pricked out into cell trays, it grew quickly._
10. To urge someone forward or stir them into action, as a goad drives an animal.
   - Simple: To push or urge someone to do something.
   - _Rivalry can prick even a lazy student into real effort._
   - _A friend's quiet challenge pricked her into signing up for night classes at last._
12. To use small dots or punctures as markings on a surface, especially on a chart to show a ship's route.
   - Simple: To make small dots or holes on something, especially to mark a ship's path on a map.
   - _Every noon the navigator pricked the chart to show how far the ship had come._
   - _The mate taught the cadets to prick the chart neatly so the course could be read at a glance._

## Noun

2. An unpleasant, rude, or annoying person, especially a man. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A rude or mean person, usually a man.
   - _He cut in line, laughed about it, and generally behaved like a prick._
   - _Some smug prick keyed my car in the parking lot._
3. A small hole, dent, or mark made by piercing something with a sharp point.
   - Simple: A tiny hole or mark made by something sharp.
   - _A single prick in the foil lid lets steam escape while the dish heats._
   - _The old map was covered in pricks where pins had once held it to the wall._
4. The sensation of being pierced by something small and sharp, such as a needle.
   - Simple: The sharp feeling when something small and pointed, like a needle, goes into your skin.
   - _Apart from the brief prick of the needle, the vaccination was painless._
   - _She barely noticed the pricks of the acupuncture needles._
7. The penis. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A man's penis.
   - _The comedian's whole routine was one long joke about his own prick._
   - _Crude pricks scrawled in marker covered the back of the bus shelter._
11. A feeling of remorse about something one has done.
   - Simple: A feeling of being sorry for something wrong you did.
   - _A prick of conscience made her return the wallet she had found._
   - _Despite occasional pricks of remorse, he never apologized for the betrayal._

## Verb

13. To spur a horse onward; to ride at speed. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To make your horse go faster, or to ride fast.
14. To mark or designate by a puncture, as beside a name on a list, and so to choose. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To choose someone by making a small hole next to their name on a list.
19. To direct one's aim toward a particular spot or mark. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To aim at a point or mark, as an archer does.
20. To run a seam down the middle of the cloth of a sail. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To sew a line of stitches down the middle of the cloth of a sail.

## Noun

15. A tiny particle or a very small amount of something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A tiny bit of something.
16. A dot, point, or other diacritical mark used in writing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A dot or other small mark used in writing, like the dot over an i.
17. A point or mark on a dial that marks the hour. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A mark on a clock face or other dial that shows the hour.
18. The exact spot an archer aims for on a target, also called the mark or the pin. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The spot on a target that an archer aims at.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A small pointed object, such as a pin or a sharpened stick.
- (verb) To fix something in place by its point, or to attach or hang it by piercing it.
- (verb) In hunting, to hit an animal with a shot that wounds it slightly but does not kill it.
- (verb) To drive a nail into a horse's foot in a way that leaves the horse lame.
- (verb) Of wine or a similar drink, to turn sour and sharp-tasting, or to cause it to do so.
- (noun) The footprint of a hare.
- (noun) Yarn or tobacco wound into a small bundle.
- (verb) To make a person or thing look smart with clothes or decoration, usually as prick up.

## Origin

**Meanings 2–4, 7, 11, 15–18** — Old English prica, pricu ("a sharp point, dot, small portion") became Middle English prik. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *prikô ("a prick, point"), whose origin is uncertain, though it is perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *breyǵ- meaning "to scratch, scrape." Dutch prik ("point, small stick") and Danish prik ("dot") are related.
**Meanings 1, 5–6, 8–10, 12–14, 19–20** — Old English prician, priccan ("to prick") became Middle English prikken. Behind it is Proto-Germanic *prikōną ("to pierce, prick"), whose origin is uncertain, though it is perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *breyǵ- meaning "to scratch, scrape." Relatives include Dutch prikken ("to prick, sting") and Swedish pricka ("to dot, prick").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/prick (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).