prick

Meanings

Noun

• A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
• An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object.
• A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point.
• A tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot.
• A small pointed object.
• The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object.
• A feeling of remorse.
• The penis.
• Someone (especially a man or boy) who is unpleasant, rude or annoying.
• A small roll of yarn or tobacco.
• The footprint of a hare.
• A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
• The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.

Verb

• To pierce or puncture slightly.
• To form by piercing or puncturing.
• To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.
• To mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart).
• To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail.
• To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
• To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
• To make or become sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; said especially of the ears of an animal, such as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up.
• Usually in the form prick out: to plant (seeds or seedlings) in holes made in soil at regular intervals.
• To incite, stimulate, goad.
• To urge one's horse on; to ride quickly.
• To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
• To make acidic or pungent.
• To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
• To aim at a point or mark.
• to dress or adorn; to prink.

Origin

• From Middle English prik, prikke, from Old English prica, pricu, from Proto-Germanic *prikô, *prikō, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *breyǵ- ("to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap"). Cognate with West Frisian prik ("small hole"), Dutch prik ("point, small stick"), Danish prik ("dot"), Icelandic prik ("dot, small stick").
• From Middle English prikken, from Old English prician, priccan, from Proto-Germanic *prikōną, *prikjaną, of uncertain origin; perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *breyǵ- ("to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap"). Cognate with dialectal English pritch, Dutch prikken ("to prick, sting"), Middle High German pfrecken ("to prick"), Swedish pricka ("to dot, prick"), and possibly to Lithuanian įbrėžti ("to scrape, scratch, carve, inscribe, strike").