prick

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of piercing or pricking.
2. n. The sensation of being pierced or pricked.
3. n. A persistent or sharply painful feeling of sorrow or remorse.
4. n. A small, sharp, local pain, such as that made by a needle or bee sting.
5. n. A small mark or puncture made by a pointed object.
6. n. A pointed object, such as an ice pick, goad, or thorn.
7. n. A hare's track or footprint.
8. n. Vulgar Slang A penis.
9. n. Vulgar Slang A person regarded as highly unpleasant, especially a male.
10. v. To puncture lightly.
11. v. To affect with a mental or emotional pang, as of sorrow or remorse: His conscience began to prick him.
12. v. To impel as if with a spur; urge on.
13. v. To mark or delineate on a surface by means of small punctures: prick a pattern on a board.
14. v. To pierce the quick of (a horse's hoof) while shoeing.
15. v. To transplant (seedlings, for example) before final planting.
16. v. To cause to stand erect or point upward: The dogs pricked their ears.
17. v. To pierce or puncture something or cause a pricking feeling.
18. v. To feel a pang or twinge from or as if from being pricked.
19. v. To spur a horse on.
20. v. To ride at a gallop.
21. v. To stand erect; point upward: The dog's ears pricked at the noise.
22. prick off Nautical To measure with dividers on a chart.
23. idiom. prick up (one's) ears To listen with attentive interest.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A slender pointed instrument or other thing capable of puncturing; something sharp-pointed.
2. n. A thorn; spine; prickle.
3. n. A skewer.
4. n. A goad. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.] The penis. [Low.] A kind of eel-spear. [Eng.]
5. n. Same as pricket, 1.
6. n. A point; dot; small mark.
7. n. Specifically— A mark used in writing or printing, as a vowel-point or a comma.
8. n. 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.
9. n. A mark on a dial noting the hour; hence, a point of time.
10. n. A mark denoting degree; pitch; point.
11. n. A mathematical point.
12. n. In music, a note or point: so called from the dot or mark that formed its head.
13. n. The act or process of puncturing or pricking.
14. n. A puncture. A minute wound, such as is made by a needle, thorn, or sting.
15. n. The print of the foot of a hare or deer on the ground.
16. n. plural In tanning, an appearance as of minute punctures in hides soaked in water until decomposition begins.
17. n. Figuratively, that which pierces, stings, goads, or incites the mind.
18. n. A small roll: as, a prick of spun-yarn; a prick of tobacco.
19. To pierce with a sharp point; puncture; wound.
20. To fix or insert by the point: as, to prick a knife into a board.
21. To transfix or impale.
22. To fasten by means of a pin or other pointed instrument; stick.
23. To pick out with or as with a needle.
24. To spur, as a horse; hence, to stimulate to action; goad; incite; impel.
25. To affect with sharp pain; sting, as with remorse or sorrow.
26. 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.
27. To stick upon by way of decoration; stick full, as of flowers or feathers; hence, to decorate; adorn; prink.
28. To place a point, dot, or similar mark upon; mark. To jot or set down in dots or marks, as music or words. See counterpoint (etymology) and pricksong.
29. To designate by a mark or dot; hence, to choose or select. Compare pricking for sheriffs, under pricking.
30. To mark or trace by puncturing.
31. To trace or track by the marks or footsteps, as a hare.
32. Nautical, to run a middle seam through the cloth of (a sail).
33. To aim, as at a point or mark.
34. To give a sensation as of being pricked or punctured with a sharp point; also, to have such a sensation.
35. To spur on; ride rapidly; post; speed.
36. To point upward; stand erect.
37. To dress one's self for show; prink.
38. To germinate.
39. To become acid or sour. Wine is said to be pricked when it is very slightly soured, as when the bottles have been kept in too warm a place.

Wiktionary

1. v. intransitive, dated To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
2. v. nautical, obsolete To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail. (The Universal Dictionary of the English Language, 1896)
3. v. intransitive To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
4. v. To aim at a point or mark.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. That which pricks, penetrates, or punctures; a sharp and slender thing; a pointed instrument; a goad; a spur, etc.; a point; a skewer.
2. n. The act of pricking, or the sensation of being pricked; a sharp, stinging pain; figuratively, remorse.
3. n. obsolete, obsolete, obsolete, obsolete, obsolete, obsolete A mark made by a pointed instrument; a puncture; a point.
4. n. obsolete, obsolete, obsolete, obsolete, obsolete A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
5. n. obsolete, obsolete, obsolete, obsolete The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.
6. n. obsolete, obsolete, obsolete A mark denoting degree; degree; pitch.
7. n. obsolete, obsolete A mathematical point; -- regularly used in old English translations of Euclid.
8. n. obsolete The footprint of a hare.
9. n. (Naut.) A small roll
10. v. 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
11. v. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
12. v. To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark; -- sometimes with off.
13. v. To mark the outline of by puncturing; to trace or form by pricking; to mark by punctured dots
14. v. To ride or guide with spurs; to spur; to goad; to incite; to urge on; -- sometimes with on, or off.
15. v. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
16. v. 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.
17. v. obsolete To render acid or pungent.
18. v. obsolete To dress; to prink; -- usually with up.
19. v. To run a middle seam through, as the cloth of a sail.
20. v. To trace on a chart, as a ship's course.
21. v. To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.
22. v. To nick.
23. v. To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
24. v. To spur onward; to ride on horseback.
25. v. To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
26. v. To aim at a point or mark.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make a small hole into, as with a needle or a thorn
2. n. insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous
3. v. deliver a sting to
4. n. the act of puncturing with a small point
5. v. raise.
6. v. to cause a sharp emotional pain
7. v. cause a prickling sensation
8. v. cause a stinging pain
9. v. stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick
10. n. obscene terms for penis
11. n. a depression scratched or carved into a surface