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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; as, to prick one with a pin, needle, etc.; to prick a card; to prick holes in paper.

The act of piercing or puncturing with a sharp point. "There is that speaketh like the prickings of a sword." Prov. xii. 18 [1583].

r by priming. -- Priming wire, a pointed wire used to penetrate the vent of a piece, for piercing the cartridge before priming.

One who is confined in a prison. Piers Plowman.

in which he has the opportunity of proving his character, and becoming qualified for a happier state. No [view of human life] seems so reasonable as that which regards it as a state of probation. Paley.

mmon or general use, as in an army; hence, common in quality; inferior. "A poor provant rapier." B. Jonson.

That quality of appearance which pleases the eye; beauty; comeliness; grace; loveliness. Piercing our heartes with thy pulchritude. Court of Love.

To put. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

To pierce with a small, pointed instrument, or the like; to prick; to make a puncture in; as, to puncture the skin.

The quality or state of being pungent or piercing; keenness; sharpness; piquancy; as, the pungency of ammonia. "The pungency of menaces." Hammond.

ncient trimming of tinsel and thread for women's gowns; -- called also bobbinwork. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

esp., the heard, liver, and lungs of an animal. [Obs.] " The purtenaunces of purgatory." Piers Plowman. Roast [it] with fire, his head with his legs, and with the purtenance [Rev. Ver., inwards] thereof. Ex. xii. 9.

A quarter; esp., a quarter of a pound, or a quarter of a hundred. Piers Plowman.

Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen. The air is quick there, And it pierces and sharpens the stomach. Shak.

The method or art of performing arithmetical operations by means of Napier's bones. See Napier's bones. [Written also rhabdology.]

ed together, end to end. -- Rag dust, fine particles of ground-up rags, used in making papier-maché and wall papers. -- Rag wheel. (a) A chain wheel; a sprocket wheel. (b) A polishing wheel made of disks of cloth clamped together on a mandrel. -- Rag wool, wool obtained by tearing woolen rags into fine bits, shoddy.…

A document having many names or numerous seals, as a papal bull. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

A heavy steel or iron beak attached to the prow of a steam war vessel for piercing or cutting down the vessel of an enemy; also, a vessel carrying such a beak.

A follower of Pierre Ramé, better known as Ramus, a celebrated French scholar, who was professor of rhetoric and philosophy at Paris in the reign of Henry II., and opposed the Aristotelians.

To hasten. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.