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 ] |