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 ]

v. i. 1. To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture; as, a sore finger pricks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To spur onward; to ride on horseback. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

A gentle knight was pricking on the plain. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To aim at a point or mark. Hawkins. [ 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 ]

n. [ AS. pricele, pricle; akin to LG. prickel, D. prikkel. See Prick, n. ] 1. A little prick; a small, sharp point; a fine, sharp process or projection, as from the skin of an animal, the bark of a plant, etc.; a spine. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A kind of willow basket; -- a term still used in some branches of trade. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A sieve of filberts, -- about fifty pounds. [ Eng. ] [ 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 ]

{ } n. (Zool.) The stickleback. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Prickly. ] The quality of being prickly, or of having many prickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Prickly. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tailor; -- so called in contempt. [ Old slang ] L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of sharp points or prickles; armed or covered with prickles; as, a prickly shrub. [ 1913 Webster ]

Prickly heat (Med.), a noncontagious cutaneous eruption of red pimples, attended with intense itching and tingling of the parts affected. It is due to inflammation of the sweat glands, and is often brought on by overheating the skin in hot weather. --
Prickly pear (Bot.), a name given to several plants of the cactaceous genus Opuntia, American plants consisting of fleshy, leafless, usually flattened, and often prickly joints inserted upon each other. The sessile flowers have many petals and numerous stamens. The edible fruit is a large pear-shaped berry containing many flattish seeds. The common species of the Northern Atlantic States is Opuntia vulgaris. In the South and West are many others, and in tropical America more than a hundred more. Opuntia vulgaris, Opuntia Ficus-Indica, and Opuntia Tuna are abundantly introduced in the Mediterranean region, and Opuntia Dillenii has become common in India. --
Prickly pole (Bot.), a West Indian palm (Bactris Plumierana), the slender trunk of which bears many rings of long black prickles. --
Prickly withe (Bot.), a West Indian cactaceous plant (Cereus triangularis) having prickly, slender, climbing, triangular stems. --
Prickly rat (Zool.), any one of several species of South American burrowing rodents belonging to Ctenomys and allied genera. The hair is usually intermingled with sharp spines. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.), 1. A prickly shrub (Xanthoxylum Americanum) with yellowish flowers appearing with the leaves; also called toothache tree. All parts of the plant are pungent and aromatic. The southern species is Xanthoxylum Carolinianum. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.), Hercules'-club, also called the Angelica tree. [ PJC ]

n. [ F. trique-madame. Cf. Tripmadam. ] (Bot.) A name given to several species of stonecrop, used as ingredients of vermifuge medicines. See Stonecrop. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A pointed steel punch, to prick a mark on metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An arrow. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Prick, v. t., 4. ] Music written, or noted, with dots or points; -- so called from the points or dots with which it is noted down. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He fights as you sing pricksong. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A shrub (Euonymus Europæus); -- so named from the use of its wood for goads, skewers, and shoe pegs. Called also spindle tree. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Stiff and sharp; prickly. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Upraised; erect; -- said of the ears of an animal. Mason. [ 1913 Webster ]