prick

n. [ AS. prica, pricca, pricu; akin to LG. prick, pricke, D. prik, Dan. prik, prikke, Sw. prick. Cf. Prick, v. ] 1. That which pricks, penetrates, or punctures; a sharp and slender thing; a pointed instrument; a goad; a spur, etc.; a point; a skewer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Acts ix. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of pricking, or the sensation of being pricked; a sharp, stinging pain; figuratively, remorse. “The pricks of conscience.” A. Tucker. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A mark made by a pointed instrument; a puncture; a point. Hence: (a) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour. [ Obs. ] “The prick of noon.” Shak. (b) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin. “They that shooten nearest the prick.” Spenser. (c) A mark denoting degree; degree; pitch. [ Obs. ] “To prick of highest praise forth to advance.” Spenser. (d) A mathematical point; -- regularly used in old English translations of Euclid. (e) The footprint of a hare. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) A small roll; as, a prick of spun yarn; a prick of tobacco. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pricked p. pr. & vb. n. Pricking. ] [ AS. prician; akin to LG. pricken, D. prikken, Dan. prikke, Sw. pricka. See Prick, n., and cf. Prink, Prig. ] 1. To pierce slightly with a sharp-pointed instrument or substance; to make a puncture in, or to make by puncturing; to drive a fine point into; as, to prick one with a pin, needle, etc.; to prick a card; to prick holes in paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing; as, to prick a knife into a board. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cooks prick it [ a slice ] on a prong of iron. Sandys. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark; -- sometimes with off. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some who are pricked for sheriffs. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To mark the outline of by puncturing; to trace or form by pricking; to mark by punctured dots; as, to prick a pattern for embroidery; to prick the notes of a musical composition. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To ride or guide with spurs; to spur; to goad; to incite; to urge on; -- sometimes with on, or off. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who pricketh his blind horse over the fallows. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

The season pricketh every gentle heart. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

My duty pricks me on to utter that. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse. “I was pricked with some reproof.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. Acts ii. 37. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To make sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; -- said especially of the ears of an animal, as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up; -- hence, to prick up the ears, to listen sharply; to have the attention and interest strongly engaged. “The courser . . . pricks up his ears.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To render acid or pungent. [ Obs. ] Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To dress; to prink; -- usually with up. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Naut) (a) To run a middle seam through, as the cloth of a sail. (b) To trace on a chart, as a ship's course. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. (Far.) (a) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness. (b) To nick. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having erect, pointed ears; -- said of certain dogs. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou prick-eared cur of Iceland. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, pricks; a pointed instrument; a sharp point; a prickle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who spurs forward; a light horseman. [ 1913 Webster ]

The prickers, who rode foremost, . . . halted. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A priming wire; a priming needle, -- used in blasting and gunnery. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Naut.) A small marline spike having generally a wooden handle, -- used in sailmaking. R. H. Dana, Ir. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Perhaps so called from the state of his horns. See Prick, and cf. Brocket. ] (Zool.) A buck in his second year. See Note under 3d Buck. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of piercing or puncturing with a sharp point. “There is that speaketh like the prickings of a sword.” Prov. xii. 18 [ 1583 ]. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Far.) (a) The driving of a nail into a horse's foot so as to produce lameness. (b) Same as Nicking. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A sensation of being pricked. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The mark or trace left by a hare's foot; a prick; also, the act of tracing a hare by its footmarks. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Dressing one's self for show; prinking. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Arch.) The first coating of plaster in work of three coats upon laths. Its surface is scratched once to form a better key for the next coat. In the United States called scratch coat. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To prick slightly, as with prickles, or fine, sharp points. [ 1913 Webster ]

Felt a horror over me creep,
Prickle skin, and catch my breath. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]