pricked

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of prick.

   His conscience pricked him all evening after he snapped at his sister.

   The tomato seedlings were pricked out into larger trays after two weeks.

   Note

   The verb is regular, so one form covers the past (she pricked her finger on a thorn) and the participle (the balloon was pricked). Several of its meanings travel with a particle: seedlings are pricked out into trays, and an animal's ears are pricked up. Without one it can turn inward, as when a guilty conscience pricked him all evening.

2. 2
   adjective

   Pierced or punctured with small holes.

   Candlelight spilled through the pricked tin shade in a scatter of tiny points.

   By midnight the desert sky was pricked all over with stars.

   Similarpierced, perforated

3. 3
   adjectivefiguratively

   Of a person's ears, listening carefully, like an alert animal that raises its ears to listen.

   Reporters hung around the courthouse lobby, ears pricked for any word of the verdict.

   She kept her ears pricked through the meeting in case her project came up.

   Similarcocked, alert

   Note

   It is said only of ears, and mostly in set phrases: keep your ears pricked, with ears pricked, ears pricked for any news. It pairs naturally with keep your eyes peeled, the same alertness given to the eyes. Of a person the phrase is figurative, since nothing actually moves; of a horse or a dog, the ears really stand up.

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