Prick Definition

prĭk
pricked, pricking, pricks
noun
pricks
The act of piercing or pricking.
American Heritage Medicine
The sensation of being pierced or pricked.
American Heritage Medicine
A persistent or sharply painful feeling of sorrow or remorse.
American Heritage Medicine
Webster's New World
A very small puncture or, formerly, dot, made by a sharp point.
Webster's New World
verb
pricked, pricking, pricks
To puncture lightly.
American Heritage
To make (a tiny hole) in (something) with a sharp point.
Webster's New World
To have a prickly or stinging sensation; tingle.
Webster's New World
To spur a horse on; ride fast.
Webster's New World
To affect with a mental or emotional pang, as of sorrow or remorse.
Criticism that pricked his conscience.
American Heritage
adjective
Carried stiffly erect.
Webster's New World
idiom
prick up (one's) ears
  • To listen with attentive interest.
American Heritage
prick out
  • to transplant (seedlings) as from seed pans to shallow boxes
Webster's New World
prick up one's ears
  • to raise the ears with the points upward
  • to listen closely
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Prick

Noun

Singular:
prick
Plural:
pricks

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Prick

Origin of Prick

  • From Middle English prik, prikke, from Old English prica, pricu (“a sharp point, minute mark, spot, dot, small portion, prick"), from Proto-Germanic *prik- (“a prick, point"). Cognate with West Frisian prik (“small hole"), Dutch prik (“point, small stick"), Danish prik (“dot"), Icelandic prik (“dot, small stick"). Pejorative context came from prickers, or witch-hunters.

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English prikken, from Old English prician (“to prick"), from Proto-Germanic *prik- (“to pierce, prick"). Cognate with English dialectal pritch, Dutch prikken (“to prick, sting"), Middle High German pfrecken (“to prick"), Swedish pricka (“to dot, prick").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English prica puncture

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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