Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Prick \Prick\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pricked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Pricking}.] [AS. prician; akin to LG. pricken, D. prikken,
   Dan. prikke, Sw. pricka. See {Prick}, n., and cf. {Prink},
   {Prig}.]
   1. 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.

   2. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing; as,
      to prick a knife into a board. --Sir I. Newton.

            The cooks prick it [a slice] on a prong of iron.
                                                  --Sandys.

   3. To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking;
      to choose; to mark; -- sometimes with off.

            Some who are pricked for sheriffs.    --Bacon.

            Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off.
                                                  --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

            Those many, then, shall die: their names are
            pricked.                              --Shak.

   4. To mark the outline of by puncturing; to trace or form by
      pricking; to mark by punctured dots; as, to prick a
      pattern for embroidery; to prick the notes of a musical
      composition. --Cowper.

   5. To ride or guide with spurs; to spur; to goad; to incite;
      to urge on; -- sometimes with on, or off.

            Who pricketh his blind horse over the fallows.
                                                  --Chaucer.

            The season pricketh every gentle heart. --Chaucer.

            My duty pricks me on to utter that.   --Shak.

   6. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse. ``I
      was pricked with some reproof.'' --Tennyson.

            Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
            heart.                                --Acts ii. 37.

   7. To make sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as
      something pointed; -- said especially of the ears of an
      animal, as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up; --
      hence, to prick up the ears, to listen sharply; to have
      the attention and interest strongly engaged. ``The courser
      . . . pricks up his ears.'' --Dryden.

   8. To render acid or pungent. [Obs.] --Hudibras.

   9. To dress; to prink; -- usually with up. [Obs.]

   10. (Naut)
       (a) To run a middle seam through, as the cloth of a sail.
       (b) To trace on a chart, as a ship's course.

   11. (Far.)
       (a) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause
           lameness.
       (b) To nick.

Prick \Prick\, n. [AS. prica, pricca, pricu; akin to LG. prick,
   pricke, D. prik, Dan. prik, prikke, Sw. prick. Cf. {Prick},
   v.]
   1. That which pricks, penetrates, or punctures; a sharp and
      slender thing; a pointed instrument; a goad; a spur, etc.;
      a point; a skewer.

            Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary.
                                                  --Shak.

            It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
                                                  --Acts ix. 5.

   2. The act of pricking, or the sensation of being pricked; a
      sharp, stinging pain; figuratively, remorse. ``The pricks
      of conscience.'' --A. Tucker.

   3. A mark made by a pointed instrument; a puncture; a point.
      Hence:
      (a) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour. [Obs.]
          ``The prick of noon.'' --Shak.
      (b) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the
          mark; the pin. ``They that shooten nearest the
          prick.'' --Spenser.
      (c) A mark denoting degree; degree; pitch. [Obs.] ``To
          prick of highest praise forth to advance.'' --Spenser.
      (d) A mathematical point; -- regularly used in old English
          translations of Euclid.
      (e) The footprint of a hare. [Obs.]

   4. (Naut.) A small roll; as, a prick of spun yarn; a prick of
      tobacco.

Prick \Prick\, v. i.
   1. To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by
      puncture; as, a sore finger pricks.

   2. To spur onward; to ride on horseback. --Milton.

            A gentle knight was pricking on the plain.
                                                  --Spenser.

   3. To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.

   4. To aim at a point or mark. --Hawkins.

Source : WordNet®

prick
     n 1: insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or
          irritating or ridiculous [syn: {asshole}, {bastard}, {cocksucker},
           {dickhead}, {shit}, {mother fucker}, {motherfucker}, {whoreson},
           {son of a bitch}, {SOB}]
     2: a depression scratched or carved into a surface [syn: {incision},
         {scratch}, {slit}, {dent}]
     3: obscene terms for penis [syn: {cock}, {dick}, {shaft}, {pecker},
         {peter}, {tool}, {putz}]
     4: the act of puncturing with a small point; "he gave the
        balloon a small prick" [syn: {pricking}]

prick
     v 1: make a small hole into, as with a needle or a thorn; "The
          nurse pricked my finger to get a small blood sample"
          [syn: {prickle}]
     2: cause a stinging pain; "The needle pricked his skin" [syn: {sting},
         {twinge}]
     3: raise; "The dog pricked up his ears" [syn: {prick up}, {cock
        up}]
     4: prod or urge as if with a log stick [syn: {goad}]
     5: cause a prickling sensation [syn: {prickle}]
     6: to cause a sharp emotional pain; "The thought of her
        unhappiness pricked his conscience"
     7: deliver a sting to; "A bee stung my arm yesterday" [syn: {sting},
         {bite}]