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Webster 1913 Edition

Prick

Prick

,
Noun.
[AS.
prica
,
pricca
,
pricu
; akin to LG.
prick
,
pricke
, D.
prik
, Dan.
prik
,
prikke
, Sw.
prick
. Cf.
Prick
,
Verb.
]
1.
That which pricks, penetrates, or punctures; a sharp and slender thing; a pointed instrument; a goad; a spur, etc.; a point; a skewer.
Pins, wooden
pricks
, nails, sprigs of rosemary.
Shakespeare
It is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks
.
Acts ix. 5.
2.
The act of pricking, or the sensation of being pricked; a sharp, stinging pain; figuratively, remorse.
“The pricks of conscience.”
A. Tucker.
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.]
4.
(Naut.)
A small roll;
as, a
prick
of spun yarn; a
prick
of tobacco.

Prick

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pricked
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Pricking
.]
[AS.
prician
; akin to LG.
pricken
, D.
prikken
, Dan.
prikke
, Sw.
pricka
. See
Prick
,
Noun.
, 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.
2.
To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing;
as, to
prick
a knife into a board
.
Sir I. Newton.
The cooks
prick
it [a slice] on a prong of iron.
Sandys.
3.
To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark; – sometimes with off.
Some who are
pricked
for sheriffs.
Bacon.
Let the soldiers for duty be carefully
pricked
off.
Sir W. Scott.
Those many, then, shall die: their names are
pricked
.
Shakespeare
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.
5.
To ride or guide with spurs; to spur; to goad; to incite; to urge on; – sometimes with on, or off.
Who
pricketh
his blind horse over the fallows.
Chaucer.
The season
pricketh
every gentle heart.
Chaucer.
My duty
pricks
me on to utter that.
Shakespeare
6.
To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
“I was pricked with some reproof.”
Tennyson.
Now when they heard this, they were
pricked
in their heart.
Acts ii. 37.
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.
8.
To render acid or pungent.
[Obs.]
Hudibras.
9.
To dress; to prink; – usually with up.
[Obs.]
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.
11.
(Far.)
(a)
To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.
(b)
To nick.

Prick

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture;
as, a sore finger
pricks
.
2.
To spur onward; to ride on horseback.
Milton.
A gentle knight was
pricking
on the plain.
Spenser.
3.
To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
4.
To aim at a point or mark.
Hawkins.

Webster 1828 Edition

Prick

PRICK

, v.t.
1.
To pierce with a sharp pointed instrument or substance; as, to prick one with a pin, a needle, a thorn or the like.
2.
To erect a pointed thing, or with an acuminated point; applied chiefly to the ears, and primarily to the pointed ears of an animal. The horse pricks his ears, or pricks up his ears.
3.
To fix by the point; as, to prick a knife into a board.
4.
To hang on a point.
The cooks prick a slice on a prong of iron.
5.
To designate by a puncture or mark.
Some who are pricked for sheriffs, and are fit, set out of the bill.
6.
To spur; to goad; to incite; sometimes with on or off.
My duty pricks me on to utter that
Which no worldly good should draw from me.
But how if honor prick me off.
7.
To affect with sharp pain; to sting with remorse.
When they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts. Acts 2. Ps.73.
8.
To make acid or pungent to the taste; as, wine is pricked.
9.
To write a musical composition with the proper notes on a scale.
10. In seamen's language, to run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail.
To prick a chart, is to trace a ship's course on a chart.

PRICK

,
Verb.
I.
To become acid; as, cider pricks in the rays of the sun.
1.
To dress one's self for show.
2.
To come upon the spur; to shoot along.
Before each van
Prick forth the airy knights.
3.
To aim at a point, mark or place.

PRICK

, n.
1.
A slender pointed instrument or substance, which is hard enough to pierce the skin; a goad; a spur.
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Acts 9.
2.
Sharp stinging pain; remorse.
3.
A spot or mark at which archers aim.
4.
A point; a fixed place.
5.
A puncture or place entered by a point.
6.
The print of a hare on the ground.
7.
In seamen's language, a small roll; as a prick of spun yarn; a prick of tobacco.

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