# pricking

Pronunciation: say "PRIK-ing" /ˈpɹɪkɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle and gerund of prick. — present participle and gerund of prick
   - Simple: Present participle and gerund of prick. Use it after is, was or keep, or as a noun for the action.
   - _Guilt kept pricking him long after the argument was over._
   - _Pricking out the seedlings is slow, careful work, but it gives each plant room to grow._

## Noun

2. The action of jabbing a sharp point into something, making a small hole.
   - Simple: Making a small hole in something with a sharp point.
   - _A single pricking of the fingertip gives enough blood for the test._
   - _The hikers came out of the gorse with their legs raw from the prickings of countless thorns._
3. A feeling that stings like a sharp point, or that causes sharp emotional pain.
   - Simple: A sharp feeling that hurts inside, like a small sting.
   - _A faint pricking of jealousy crept in as he watched his rival take the stage._
   - _Every reminder of the old quarrel brought fresh prickings of regret._
4. The driving of a nail into a horse's foot in a way that lames the animal.
   - Simple: Pushing a nail into a horse's foot in a way that makes the horse lame.
   - _The mare went lame the day after she was shod, and the vet traced the trouble to a pricking in her left forefoot._
   - _Pricking is a risk whenever a horse is shod, so a good farrier drives every nail with care._
5. The act of tracking a hare by following its footprints.
   - Simple: Following a hare by looking at the marks its feet leave on the ground.
   - _Fresh snow made for good pricking, and the hunters followed the hare's trail to the hedge._
   - _He was skilled at pricking, reading the faint marks a hare left in soft earth._

## Noun

6. The act of dressing oneself up for show, so as to look fine in front of others. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Dressing up in fine clothes so that other people will look at you.

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