pricement 
Her yearly revenues diil amount to 87'. S. 3d., according 
to the pricement at the suppression. 
Weever. (itatvu's Suppt. to Johnson's Diet.) 
pricer (pri'ser), n. A person whose duty it is 
to regulate the prices of a market. Halliwell. 
price-tag (pris'tag), . A tag or ticket on 
which the price of an article to which it is 
attached is marked. 
Accordingly they attached "etiquettes," or price-tags, 
to their articles. Chautaiu/itan, VIII. 422. 
prick (prik), n. [< ME. prik, pryk, prikke, prike, 
preke, a point, a sting, < AS. prica, prieu, a 
sharp point, usually a minute mark, point, dot, 
a very small portion, prick, = MD. prick, D. 
jn'ik, a prick, puncture, = MLG. pricke, LG. 
prik, a point, prick, spear, prickle, = G. prirke, 
prick = Icel. prik = Dan. prik = Sw. prick, a 
prick, dot, mark (cf.deriv. (partly dim. )pricMe); 
perhaps akin (with loss of orig. initial s) to Ir. 
spricliar, a sting, Skt. prishant, speckled, also a 
dot, and so to E. sprinkle: see sprinkle. The 
OSp. pricgo, Pg. prcgo, a nail, are from the 
Teut.J 1. A slender pointed instrument or 
other thing capable of puncturing; something 
sharp-pointed, (a) A thorn; spine; prickle. 
Kyndeof Whales, called Balene, . . . haue rough backes 
full of sharpe prickes. 
K. Bden,tr. of Sebastian Munster(First Books on America, 
led. Arber, p. 22). 
Hedgehogs which 
Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount 
Their pricks at my footfall. Shale., Tempest, il. 2. 12. 
The odoriferous & fragrant rose . . . 
For fence itselfe with prickes doth round enclose. 
Times' Whittle (K. E. T. 8-X p. 128. 
(6) A skewer. 
Carmis, . . . the tree of the wood whereof butchers 
make their pricks. tfomenclalor. 
Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices, 
Strike In their numb'd and mortified bare arms 
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary. 
Shalt., Lear, ii. 3. 16. 
I know no use for them so meet 
As to be pudding pricks. 
Robin Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 191). 
(c)Agoad. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.] (d) The penis. [Low.] 
() A kind of eel-spear. [Eng.] 
The prick is constructed of four broad serrated blades or 
tines spread out like a fan, and the eel becomes wedged 
between them. 
Day, fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, II. 246. 
(/) Same as pricket, 1. 
Paid to Thomas Hope for Pricks that theTappers [tapers] 
stand on, viiij d. Quoted in /, Glossary. 
2. A point; dot; small mark. Specifically (at) 
A mark used in writing or printing, as a vowel-point or a 
comma. 
Almost euery letter with his pricke or circumflexe signi- 
fleth a whole word. Uakluyt's Voyages, I. 394. 
Martinius affirmeth That these Masorites inuentcd the 
prickes wherewith the Hebrew is now read, to supply the 
lacke of vowels. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 179. 
(6) In archery, the point in the center of a target at which 
aim is taken ; the white : also, the target itself, or, in the 
plural, a pair of targets, one at the top and the other at 
the bottom of the range. 
And therfore every man Judged as he thought, and 
named a sickness that he knew, shothing not nere the 
pricke, nor understanding the nature of the disease. 
Hall, Hen. V., f. 50. (HaUimll.) 
A pair of winding pricks, . . . things that hinder a man 
which looketh at his mark to shoot straight 
Ascham, Toxophilns, p. 161. 
Off the marke he welde not fayle, 
He cleffed the preke on thre. 
/.w./,, Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 27). 
Let the mark have a prick in 't, to mete at, if it may be. 
Shak., L. L. L., iv. 1. 134. 
(ct) A mark on a dial noting the hour ; hence, a point of 
time. 
Now Phaethon hath tumbled from his car. 
And made an evening at the noontide pride. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 4. 84. 
(dt) A mark denoting degree; pitch; point. 
There is no man koude brynge hire to that prikke. 
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 931. 
Now ginnes that goodly frame of Temperauuce 
Fayrely to rise, and her adorned hed 
To pricke of highest prayse to advaunce. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 1. 
(t) A mathematical point. 
Arithmetic, geometry, and musicke do proceed 
From one, a pricke, from divers sounds. 
Warner, Albion's England, xiii. (A'arei.) 
(/t) In iniiiii; a note or point: so called from the dot or 
mark that formed its head. 
3. The act or process of puncturing or prick- 
ing. 
Gentlewomen that live honestly by the prick of tlieir 
needles. Shak., Hen. V., ii. 1. 36. 
4. A puncture, (a) A minute wound, such as is made 
by a needle, thorn, or sting. 
There were never any asps discovered in the place of her 
death, . . . only, it was said, two small and almost in- 
sensible pricks were found upon her arm. 
Sir T. Brvieiie. Viilu. Err., v. 12. 
4719 
(6) The print of the foot of a hare or deer on the ground. 
(c) pi. In tanning, an appearance as of minute punctures 
in hides soaked in water until decomposition begins. 
In ... soaking the hides in clean water, pricks, pitted, 
frieze, and black spots originate. 
C. T. Davit, Leather, p. 238. 
ft. Figuratively, that which pierces, stings, 
goads, or incites the mind. 
went of all wlkke, 
Of conscience whom no prikke 
Hale stere, lo what thou hast do ! 
Qotcer, Conf. Amant., v. 
My conscience first received a tenderness, 
Scruple, and prick, on certain speeches utter'd 
By the Bishop of Bayonne. 
Shak., Hen. VIII., IL 4. 171. 
This life is brief, and troubles die with it; 
Where were the prick to soar up homeward else? 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 176. 
6. A small roll : as, a prick of spun-yarn ; a 
prick of tobacco Prick and praiset, the praise 
of excellence or success. 
Are you so ignorant in the rules of courtship, to think 
any one man to bear all the prick and praise ? 
Middleton, Family of Love, II. 4. 
To kick against the pricks, to kick against the goads 
(said of plowing oxen) ; hence, to make ineffectual resis- 
tance to superior force. 
It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Acts ix. 5. 
prick ( prik), i'. [< ME. pricken, prikken, prykien 
(pret. prikkede, pryqhte), < AS. prician, priccan 
= D. prikken = MLG. pricken, ~LG.pticken,prik- 
ken, preken = G. pricken = Icel. prika = Dan. 
prikke = Sw. pricka (cf. D. prikkelen = LG. 
prickeln, prikkeln, prokeln = G.nrickeln), prick; 
from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To pierce with a 
sharp point; puncture; wound. 
With her beek hirselven . . . she pryyhte. 
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 410. 
I would your cambric were sensible as your finger, that 
you might leave pricking it for pity. Shak., Cor., i. 8. 96. 
A spear 
Prick'd sharply Ills own cuirass. 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
2. To fix or insert by the point: as, to prick a 
knife into a board. 3. To transfix or impale. 
And the fflrst good stroke John Steward stroke, 
Child Maurice head he did cleeve. 
And he pricked it on his swords poynt, 
Went singing there beside. 
Chiide Maurice (Child's Ballads, II. 317). 
4. To fasten by means of a pin or other pointed 
instrument; stick. 
An old hat and 'the humour of forty fancies' pricked 
in 't for a feather. Shak., T. of the S., iif. 2. 70. 
5. To pick out with or as with a needle. 
A round little worm 
Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid. 
Shak., Ii. and J., I. 4. 66. 
6. To spur, as a horse; hence, to stimulate to 
action; goad; incite; impel. 
My duty pricks me on to utter that 
Which else no worldly good should draw from me. 
Shak., T. O. of V., ill. 1. 8. 
Even as a Peacock, prickt with loues desire 
To woo his Mistress, strowting stately by her. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4. 
Well, keep all things so in thy mind that they may be 
as a goad In thy sides, to prick thee forward in the way 
thou must go. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 108. 
7. To affect with sharp pain; sting, as with 
remorse or sorrow. 
n thing biseke I yow and wame also, 
That ye ne prikke with no tormentinge 
This tendre mayden, as ye han doon mo. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, I. 983. 
When they heard this they were pricked in their heart. 
Act* II. 37. 
8. To cause to point upward; erect : said chiefly 
of the ears, and primarily of the pointed ears 
of certain animals, as the horse : generally with 
up: hence, to prick up the ears, to listen with 
eager attention, or evince eager attention. 
Then I beat my tabor, 
At which, like unback'd colts, they prick' A their ears. 
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 176. 
The volunteers prick'd up their eart. 
Battle of Tranent-Muir (Child's Ballads. VII. 169). 
All ears were prick'd at once, all tongues were loosed. 
. Lancelot and Elaine. 
Of. To stick upon by way of decoration ; stick 
full, as of flowers or feathers; hence, to dec- 
orate; adorn; prink. 
I pricke a cuppe or suche lyke thynge full of floures, ie 
enfleure. Palsgrare. (llallivell.) 
I would they [women] would (as they have much prick- 
ing), when they put on their cap, I would they would have 
this meditation : "I am now putting on my power upon 
my head." If they had this thought in their minds, they 
would not make so much pricking up of themselves as 
they do now a days. 
Latimer, Sermons and Remains (Parker Xoc. ed.), I. 253. 
HDarief.) 
prickant 
She [Nature] prick'd thee out for women's pleaiure. 
Shak., Sonnets, xx. 
1 0. To place a point, dot, or similar mark upon : 
mark, (at) To jot or set down In dots or marks, as mu- 
sic or words. See counterpoint? (etymology) and prieksung 
All that poltes hauo pricket of his prise dedis, 
I haue no tome for to telle ne tary no lengnr. 
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 306. 
A falre rnl'd singing booke ; the word 
Perfect, If It were prickt. 
Martian, Antonio and Mellida, I., v. 1. 
He . . . did sing the whole from the words without any 
musique prickt, and played all along upon a harpsicon 
most admirably, and tne composition most excellent. 
Pepyi, Diary, III. 61. 
(6) To designate by a mark or dot ; hence, to choose or 
select. Compare pricking for sheriff, under pricking. 
Oct. Your brother too must die ; consent you, Lepldus ? 
Lep. I do consent 
Oct. Prick him down, Antony. . . . 
.Int. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him. 
Shak., J. C., iv. 1. 3. 
Your husband, gentlewoman ! why, he never was a soldier. 
Ay, but a lady got him prickt for a captain. 
Dekker and H'ebtter, Northward Ho, v. 1. 
11. To mark or trace by puncturing. 
Has she a Bodkin and a Card? 
She'll prick her Mind. 
Prior, An English Padlock. 
When, playing with thy vesture's tlssn'd flowers, . . . 
I prick'd them Into paper with a pin. 
Cowpcr, My Mother's Picture. 
12. To trace or track by the marks or foot- 
steps, as a hare. 
Prick ye the fearful hare through cross-ways, sheep- 
walks. Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, ill. 4. 
Send forth your woodmen then into the walks, 
Or let them prick her footing hence. 
/.'. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, II. 2. 
13. Xaiit., to run a middle seam through the 
cloth of (a sail) Pricking-up coat, in building, the 
first coating of plaster upon lath. 
The first or pricking-up coat is of coarse stuff put on 
with a trowel to form a key behind the laths. 
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 122. 
Prick the garter. Same as /art and loose (a) (which see, 
under fasti). To prick a cartridge, to pierce a hole 
loading into the chamber of the cartridge which contains 
the charge, in order to provide for the priming a clear 
passage to the powder. To prick out, in gardening, to 
Slant out, as seedlings from a greenhouse to an open bor- 
er. 
Shallow . . . wooden boxes . . . are very useful for 
seed-sowing, for pricking out seedlings, or for planting 
cuttings. Encyc. Brit., XII. 240. 
To prick the ship Off, to mark the ship's position in 
latitude and longitude on a chart. To prick up, in 
plastering, to plaster with the first of three coats. 
The wall is first pricked up with a coat of lime and hair. 
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 122. 
II. intraits. If. To aim, as at a point or mark. 
The devil hath pricked at this mark, to frustrate the 
cross of Christ. iMtimer, Sermon of the Plough. 
Let Christ be your scope and mark to prick at ; let him 
be your pattern to work by. 
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853X II. 80. 
2. To give a sensation as of being pricked or 
punctured with a sharp point; also, to have 
such a sensation. 
Have you no convulsions, pricking aches, sir? 
Middleton (and others), The Widow, Iv. 2. 
When the blood creeps, and the nerves prick 
And tingle. Tennyson, In Memoriam, 1. 
3. To spur on; ride rapidly; post; speed. 
He prikketh thurgh a fair forest. 
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 43. 
A gentle knight via pricking on the plalne. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 1. 
Still at the gallop prick'd the knight ; 
His merry-men follow'd as they might. 
Scott, L. of the L., v. 18. 
4. To point upward ; stand erect. 
The spires 
Prick'd with Incredible pinnacles into heaven. 
Tennyson, Holy Grail. 
5. To dress one's self for show ; prink. Latimer. 
6. To germinate. Hallitcell. [Prov. Eng.] 
If beer which no longer pricks Is pumped into another 
barrel without stirring up the sediment, it will again prick 
in the new barrel, a proof that it ferments more vigorously. 
Thausing, Beer (trans.), p. 672. 
7. To become acid or sour, wine is said to be 
pricked when it is very slightly soured, as when the bot- 
tles have been kept in too warm a place. 
It [salmon] is generally bought for 7. a kit, a little bit 
pricked; but if good, the price is from 12*. to 18*. 
Mai/hew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 68. 
Prick at the loop. Same as fast and foose(a)(which see, 
under /a(i). To prick up, to freshen, as the wind. 
prickantt (prik ant), a. [< ME. prichnul; old 
ppr. of prick, r. ] Pricking, (a) Pointing upward. 
Without his door doth hang 
A copper basin on a prickant spear. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, iii. _'. 
