prick

prick
    n 1: insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or
         irritating or ridiculous [syn: {asshole}, {bastard},
         {cocksucker}, {dickhead}, {shit}, {mother fucker},
         {motherfucker}, {prick}, {whoreson}, {son of a bitch},
         {SOB}]
    2: a depression scratched or carved into a surface [syn:
       {incision}, {scratch}, {prick}, {slit}, {dent}]
    3: obscene terms for penis [syn: {cock}, {prick}, {dick},
       {shaft}, {pecker}, {peter}, {tool}, {putz}]
    4: the act of puncturing with a small point; "he gave the
       balloon a small prick" [syn: {prick}, {pricking}]
    v 1: make a small hole into, as with a needle or a thorn; "The
         nurse pricked my finger to get a small blood sample" [syn:
         {prickle}, {prick}]
    2: cause a stinging pain; "The needle pricked his skin" [syn:
       {prick}, {sting}, {twinge}]
    3: raise; "The dog pricked up his ears" [syn: {prick up},
       {prick}, {cock up}]
    4: stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick [syn: {goad},
       {prick}]
    5: cause a prickling sensation [syn: {prickle}, {prick}]
    6: to cause a sharp emotional pain; "The thought of her
       unhappiness pricked his conscience"
    7: deliver a sting to; "A bee stung my arm yesterday" [syn:
       {sting}, {bite}, {prick}]
    

Prick \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.
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            Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary.
                                                  --Shak.
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            It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
                                                  --Acts ix. 5.
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   2. The act of pricking, or the sensation of being pricked; a
      sharp, stinging pain; figuratively, remorse. "The pricks
      of conscience." --A. Tucker.
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   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.]
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   4. (Naut.) A small roll; as, a prick of spun yarn; a prick of
      tobacco.
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Prick \Prick\, v. i.
   1. To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by
      puncture; as, a sore finger pricks.
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   2. To spur onward; to ride on horseback. --Milton.
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            A gentle knight was pricking on the plain.
                                                  --Spenser.
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   3. To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
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   4. To aim at a point or mark. --Hawkins.
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Prick \Prick\, 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.
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   2. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing; as,
      to prick a knife into a board. --Sir I. Newton.
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            The cooks prick it [a slice] on a prong of iron.
                                                  --Sandys.
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   3. To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking;
      to choose; to mark; -- sometimes with off.
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            Some who are pricked for sheriffs.    --Bacon.
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            Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off.
                                                  --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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            Those many, then, shall die: their names are
            pricked.                              --Shak.
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   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.
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   5. To ride or guide with spurs; to spur; to goad; to incite;
      to urge on; -- sometimes with on, or off.
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            Who pricketh his blind horse over the fallows.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            The season pricketh every gentle heart. --Chaucer.
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            My duty pricks me on to utter that.   --Shak.
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   6. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse. "I
      was pricked with some reproof." --Tennyson.
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            Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
            heart.                                --Acts ii. 37.
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   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.
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   8. To render acid or pungent. [Obs.] --Hudibras.
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   9. To dress; to prink; -- usually with up. [Obs.]
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   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.
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   11. (Far.)
       (a) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause
           lameness.
       (b) To nick.
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270 Moby Thesaurus words for "prick":
      aculeus, acuminate, acumination, acute pain, afflict, aggrieve,
      agonize, ail, anguish, auger, barb the dart, be keen, birthmark,
      bit, bite, blaze, blaze a trail, blemish, blotch, bore, borer,
      boring pain, brand, bristle with, broach, bruise, bugger, burn,
      cage, caste mark, chafe, chalk, chalk up, charley horse, check,
      check off, checkmark, cicatrix, cicatrize, convulse, corral,
      countersink, cramp, cramps, crick, crucify, cusp, cut, cut up,
      dapple, darting pain, dash, define, delimit, demarcate, discolor,
      discoloration, distress, dot, drill, drive, drove, earmark, egg on,
      empierce, engrave, engraving, enter, excite, excruciate, exhort,
      fester, fix, fleck, flick, flog, freckle, fret, fulgurant pain,
      gad, gadfly, gall, gash, girdle pain, give pain, gnaw, gnawing,
      goad, gore, gouge, gouge out, grate, graving, grieve, grind, gripe,
      griping, hack, harrow, hatch, have an edge, herd, hitch, hole,
      honeycomb, hurt, hurt the feelings, impale, impress, imprint,
      inflame, inflict pain, irritate, itch, jab, jag, jot, jumping pain,
      kill by inches, kink, lacerate, lance, lancinating pain, lash,
      lentigo, line, macula, make a mark, mark, mark off, mark out,
      marking, martyr, martyrize, mole, mottle, mucro, neb, needle,
      nevus, nib, nick, nip, notch, nudge, oxgoad, pain, pang, paroxysm,
      patch, pencil, penetrate, pepper, perforate, perforation, pierce,
      pinch, pinhole, pink, pinprick, pique, point, poke, polka dot,
      prickle, print, prod, prolong the agony, prompt, propel, punch,
      punch cattle, punctuate, puncture, put to torture, rack, rankle,
      rasp, ream, ream out, riddle, ride herd on, round up, rowel, rub,
      run through, scar, scarification, scarify, score, scotch, scratch,
      scratching, scum, seal, seam, seizure, sharp pain, shepherd, shit,
      shithead, shoot, shooting, shooting pain, sic, skewer, skunk,
      slash, slit, smart, snake, spasm, spear, speck, speckle, spike,
      spit, splash, splotch, spot, spur, stab, stabbing pain, stain,
      stamp, stick, stigma, stigmatize, stimulate, sting, stinker,
      stitch, strawberry mark, streak, striate, stripe, tap, tattoo,
      tattoo mark, thrill, throes, tick, tick off, tingle, tip, tittle,
      toad, tormen, torment, torture, trace, transfix, transpierce,
      trepan, trephine, turd, tweak, twinge, twist, twist the knife,
      twitch, underline, underscore, watermark, whip, whiplash, wound,
      wrangle, wrench, wring