prick
• verb 1 press briefly or puncture with a sharp point. 2 feel a sensation as though a sharp point were sticking into one. 3 (often prick up) (chiefly of a horse or dog) make (the ears) stand erect when alert. 4 (prick out) plant (seedlings) in small holes made in the earth. • noun 1 an act of pricking something. 2 a sharp pain caused by being pierced with a fine point. 3 a small hole or mark made by pricking. 4 vulgar slang a man’s penis. 5 vulgar slang a man regarded as stupid, unpleasant, or contemptible. — PHRASES kick against the pricks hurt oneself by persisting in useless resistance. with biblical allusion to Acts of the Apostles, chapter 9. — DERIVATIVES pricker noun. — ORIGIN Old English.
Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary
About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day
Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names
| 
