pricker

pricker

English

Etymology

prick +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪkə(ɹ)/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkə(ɹ)

Noun

pricker (plural prickers)

1. One who pricks.
2. A tool for pricking.
   • 1961 February, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives - Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 112:

     The pricker was used to level the fire half-way up the bank and that was that.

3. A prickle or thorn.
4. Any of several American prickly woody vines of the genus Smilax; greenbrier.
5. One who spurs forward; a light-horseman.
   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 270129598:

     The prickers, who rode foremost, […] halted.

6. A priming wire; a priming needle, used in blasting and gunnery[1].
7. (nautical) A small marlinespike used in sailmaking[2].

Related terms

• prick
• prickle
• prickly

Translations

a tool for pricking

Bulgarian: шило (bg) n (šilo), пробой m (proboj) Maori: oka Ottoman Turkish: سوزن‎ (suzen)

References

1. 1874, Edward H. Knight, American Mechanical Dictionary
2. 1841, Richard Henry Dana Jr., The Seaman's Friend