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 1682. A. Radcliffe, The Ramble, 85. While duns were knocking at my door, I lay in bed with reeking whore, With back so weak and prick so sore, You'd wonder.

d.1694. Etheredge [Rochester and Roscommon, Works (1718), i. 159]. A Band of naked Cupids draws With pricks no bigger than Wheatstraws. Ibid. One figures Love's Hieroglyphic, A couchant Cunt and rampant Prick.

c.1698. Durfey, Tom Tinker [Pills to Purge (1719), vi. 265]. I met with a Butcher a killing a Calf, I then stepp'd to him and cryed out half: At his first denial I fell very sick, And he said it was all for a touch of his.

1749. Robertson, of Struan, Poems, 256. My Lord had but one pk To satisfy my Lady's C—ny. Ibid., 186. And as one guides me to the nick, The other cries—Put up thy.

17[?]. Earl of Cork, The Bumper Toast. In a lovely field argent, crown sable she glows, And two rampant Ps as supporters we fix, Here's C in a bumper wherever she goes.

1760-7. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, viii. xx. 'I can honestly say, an' please your honour—that ** ***** ***** ***** once.' 'That was very odd, Trim,' quoth my uncle Toby.' 'I think so too, said Mrs. Wadman. 'It never did,' said the corporal.

1785. Hanbury Williams, Odes, 'To L—d Ln.' Oh, Lincoln! joy of womankind. To you this humble ode's designed; Let (Prick) inspire my song: Gods! with what powers you are endu'd! Tiberius was not half so lewd, nor Hercules so strong.

c.1786. Capt. Morris, The Plenipotentiary. 'Christ Jesus,' she said, 'what a prick for a maid.

d.1796. Burns, The Merry Muses of Caledonia, 'Act Sederunt o' the Court o' Session' [Farmer, Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) v. 215]. In Embrugh town they've made a law, In Embrugh, at the Court o' Session, That stanin' pricks are fau'tors a', An' guilty o' a high transgression. Ibid. We're a' Gaun Southie, O. Kind kimmer Kirsty, I loe wi' a' my heart, O; An' whaur there's ony pricks gaun, She'll ay get a part, O.

17[?]. Old Song, 'The Highland Laddie.' The gayest girl in Embro's town, With paint and clothes made ready, Can't knock a prick so sweetly down As bonny, buxom Peggy Brady.

b.184[?]. Old Country Side Doggrel [quoted by Halliwell]. Now if Steenie Smith don't mend his manners The skin of his shall go to the tanners.

1885. Burton, Thousand Nights, iii. 302. My prickle is big.

3. (old).—A term of endearment.—Palsgrave (1540); Halliwell (1847).

4. (old colloquial).—A pimple: see sense 1, quot. 1605.

Prick-ears, subs. phr. (old cavalier).—A Roundhead. [The Puritan head-gear was a black skull-cap, drawn down tight, leaving ears exposed].—Grose (1785). Also prick-eared (or lugged) adj. = a general term of contempt.

1599. Shakspeare, Hen. V., ii. i, 44. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland.

Pricked, adj. (costermongers').—'Sour; acid.'—B. E. (c.1696).

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 68. It [salmon] is usually bought for 1s. a kit, a little bit pricked.

Pricker (old military).—In pl. = a Cavalry regiment. [That is a light horseman: cf. prick = to ride: e.g., 'A gentle knight was pricking o'er the plain.']

Pricket, subs. (auctioneers').—A fictitious bidder; a Peter Funk (q.v.); a putter-up (q.v.).

Pricking Æger. See Æger.

Prick-louse (Nip-louse, or prick-the-louse), subs. phr. (common).—A tailor: see Snip.—B. E. (c.1696); Grose (1785).

1590. Tarleton, Purgatorie [Halliwell]. She would in brave termes abuse him, and call him rascall, and slave, but above all pricklouse, which he could not abide. Ibid. The more he beat her, the more she calde him pricklouse.