prick
part of speech
verb (prick, pricks, pricked, pricking); noun (a prick, pricks)
meaning for a pupil
1) To make a tiny hole in something with a sharp point, like a needle or a thorn. tree →
2) A small sharp pain, or the tiny mark made by a sharp point. tree →
3) "Prick up its ears": when an animal raises its ears to listen carefully. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life you can prick your finger on a rose thorn, a needle or a pin; a nurse may prick your finger to test a drop of blood. In cooking, you prick sausages or potatoes with a fork so they do not burst. In stories, a dog "pricks up its ears" when it hears a sound. Phrases: prick your finger, prick up its ears, a pin prick.
examples
- I pricked my finger on a rose thorn. tree →
- Prick the potatoes with a fork before baking them. tree →
- The nurse pricked my finger to check my blood. tree →
- The dog pricked up its ears when it heard the gate. tree →
- I felt a little prick when I got the injection. tree →
- In the fairy tale, the princess pricks her finger on a spinning wheel. tree →
- Be careful not to prick yourself with the sewing needle. tree →
- The Shepherd Dogs pricked up their ears. tree →
note
Regular verb: prick, pricked, pricking. Countable noun: a prick, pricks. Safety: wash a finger pricked by a thorn and tell an adult if it gets red or sore; never pick up used needles. The word also has a rude slang meaning as an insult, which pupils should not use.
In the corpora
- Ears pricked forward mean a horse is interested; ears pinned flat back are a warning that it is angry or annoyed.
- A needle prick from a used needle can pass on serious illnesses, so needles are only picked up by trained adults.
- Knitting and sewing needles are kept in a pincushion and counted back, so none are left to prick people or pets.
- For my heart was in a ferment, and I was pricked in my reins.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «prick» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.