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prickle
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpɹɪkəl/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
prickle (plural prickles)
- (botany) A sharp, hard extension of the cortex and epidermis of some plants (such as roses), informally called a "thorn".
- A small, sharp pointed object similar to the true prickle, such as a thorn.
- 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VI. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
- The plants that have prickles are, thorns, black and white, briar, rose, lemon-trees, […]
- A tingling sensation of mild discomfort.
- A kind of willow basket.
- c. 1623–1624 – 1630s, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Lovers Progres”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 80:
- If I had but a pottle of Sacke, like a sharp prickle, / To knock my nose against when I am nodding
- 1851, Henry Mayhew, “Costermongers”, in London Labour and the London Poor:
- The prickle is a brown willow basket, in which walnuts are imported into this country from the Continent; they are about thirty inches deep, and in bulk rather larger than a gallon measure; they are used only by the vendors of walnuts.
- (UK, obsolete) A sieve of hazelnuts, weighing about fifty pounds.
- (collective) A group of hedgehogs or porcupines.
Usage notes
Derived terms
Translations
A small, sharp pointed object, such as a thorn
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Verb
prickle (third-person singular simple present prickles, present participle prickling, simple past and past participle prickled)
- (intransitive) To feel a prickle.
- (transitive) To cause (someone) to feel a prickle; to prick.
- 2014, J. S. Eades, Promises and Other Broken Things, page 400:
- Guilt prickled me. It was about to get much worse.
Derived terms
Translations
to feel a prickle
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Anagrams
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German
Pronunciation
Verb
prickle
- inflection of prickeln:
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