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(), 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. Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary. Shak. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Acts ix. 5. 2. The act of pricking, or the sensation of being pricked; a sharp, stinging pain; figuratively, remorse. "The pricks of conscience." A. Tucker. 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. 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. 2. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing; as, to prick a knife into a board. Sir I. Newton. The cooks prick it [a slice] on a prong of iron. Sandys. 3. To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark; -- sometimes with off. Some who are pricked for sheriffs. Bacon. Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off. Sir W. Scott. Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked. Shak. 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; Prick v. i. 1. To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture; as, a sore finger pricks. 2. To spur onward; to ride on horseback. Milton. A gentle knight was pricking on the plain. Spenser. 3. To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine. 4. To aim at a point or mark. Hawkins. スポンサード リンク
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