Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRICK, v.i.

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

PRICK, v.t. [Sax. priccian; D. prikken; Dan. prikker; Sw. pricka; Ir. priocam.]

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. – Newton.
4. To hang on a point. The cooks prick a slice on a prong of iron. – Sandys.
5. To designate by a puncture or mark. Some who are pricked for sherifs, and are fit, set out of the bill. – Bacon.
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. – Shak. But how if honor prick me off. – Shak.
7. To affect with sharp pain; to sting with remorse. When they heard this they were pricked in their hearts. – Acts ii. Ps. lxxiii.
8. To make acid or pungent to the taste; as, wine is pricked. – Hudibras.
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. – Mar. Dict. To prick a chart, is to trace a ship's course on a chart. – Mar. Dict.

PRICK'ED, pp.

Pierced with a sharp point; spurred; goaded; stung with pain; rendered acid or pungent; marked; designated.

PRICK'ER, n.

1. A sharp pointed instrument. – Moxon.
2. In colloquial sense, a prickle.
3. A light horseman. [Not in use.] – Hayward.

PRICK'ET, n.

A buck in his second year. – Manwood.

PRICK'ING, n.

A sensation of sharp pain, or of being pricked.

PRICK'ING, ppr.

Piercing. with a sharp point; goading; affecting with pungent pain; making or becoming acid.

PRICK'LE, n.

1. In botany, a small pointed shoot or sharp process, growing from the bark only, and thus distinguished from the thorn, which grows from the wood of a plant. Thus the rose, the bramble, the gooseberry and the barberry are armed with prickles. – Martyn.
2. A share pointed process of an animal.

PRICK'LE-BACK, n.

A small fish, so named from the prickles on its back; the stickle-back. – Dict. Nat. Hist.

PRICK'LI-NESS, n. [from prickly.]

The state of having many prickles.

PRICK'LOUSE, n.

A low word in contempt for a tailor. – L'Estrange.

PRICK'LY, a.

Full of sharp points or prickles; armed with prickles; as, a prickly shrub. – Martyn. Swift.

PRICK'MAD-AM, n.

A species of house-leek. – Johnson.

PRICK'PUNCH, n.

A piece of tempered steel with a round point, to prick a round mark on cold iron. – Moxon.

PRICK'SONG, n.

A song set to music, or a variegated song; in distinction from a plain song. – Shak. Bale.

PRICK'WOOD, n.

A tree of the genus Euonymus. – Fam. of Plants.

PRIDE, n. [Sax. pryt, pryde; D. prat, proud.]

1. Inordinate self-esteem; an unreasonable conceit of one's own superiority in talents, beauty, wealth, accomplishments, rank or elevation in office, which manifests itself in lofty airs, distance, reserve, and often in contempt of others. Martial pride looks down on industry. – T. Dawes. Pride goeth before destruction. – Prov. xvi. Pride that dines on vanity, sups on contempt. – Franklin. All pride is abject and mean. Johnson. Those that walk in pride he is able to abase. – Dan. iv.
2. Insolence; rude treatment of others; insolent exultation. That hardly we escap'd the pride of France. – Shak.
3. Generous elation of heart; a noble self-esteem springing from a consciousness of worth. The honest pride of conscious virtue. – Smith.
4. Elevation; loftiness. A falcon tow'ring in her pride of place. – Shak.
5. Decoration; ornament; beauty displayed. Whose lofty trees yclad with summer's pride. – Spenser. Be his this sword / Whose ivory sheath, inwrought with curious pride, / Adds graceful terror to the wearer's side. – Pope.
6. Splendid show; ostentation. In this array, the war of either side / Through Athens pass'd with military pride. – Dryden.
7. That of which men are proud; that which excites boasting. I wilt cut off the pride of the Philistines. – Zech. ix. Zeph. iii.
8. Excitement of the sexual appetite in a female beast. – Shak.
9. Proud persons. – Ps. xxxvi.

PRIDE, v.t.

With the reciprocal pronoun, to pride one's self, to indulge pride; to take pride; to value one's self; to gratify self-esteem. They pride themselves in their wealth, dress or equipage. He prides himself in his achievements.

PRIDE-FUL, a.

Full of pride; insolent; scornful. – Richardson.

PRIDE-LESS, a.

Destitute of pride; without pride. – Chaucer.

PRID-ING, ppr.

Indulging pride or self-esteem; taking pride; valuing one's self.

PRID-ING-LY, adv.

With pride; in pride of heart. – Barrow.

PRIE, n. [Supposed to be so written for Privet.]

– Tusser.

PRIE, v. [or n. For Pry.]

– Chaucer.

PRIEF, n. [for Proof.]

[Obs.] – Chaucer.