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Cat vs Prick - What's the difference?

cat | prick |

As an adverb cat

is how much.

As an adjective cat

is how much.

As a noun prick is

a small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.

As a verb prick is

to pierce or puncture slightly.

cat

English

(wikipedia cat)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) , (etyl) (m).

Noun

(en noun)
  • An animal of the family Felidae :
  • *2011 , Karl Kruszelnicki, Brain Food (ISBN 1466828129), page 53:
  • *:Mammals need two genes to make the taste receptor for sugar. Studies in various cats (tigers, cheetahs and domestic cats) showed that one of these genes has mutated and no longer works.
  • #A domesticated subspecies (Felis silvestris catus ) of feline animal, commonly kept as a house pet.
  • #*
  • #*:At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat —in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.
  • #Any similar animal of the family Felidae, which includes lions, tigers, bobcats, etc.
  • A catfish.
  • *1913 , (Willa Cather), :
  • *:She missed the fish diet of her own country, and twice every summer she sent the boys to the river, twenty miles to the southward, to fish for channel cat .
  • A person.
  • #(lb) A spiteful or angry woman.
  • #An enthusiast or player of jazz.
  • #*2008 , (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), "Hold on to Yourself":
  • #*:I turn on the radio / There's some cat on the saxophone / Laying down a litany of excuses
  • #(lb) A person (usually male).
  • #(lb) A prostitute.
  • (lb) A strong tackle used to hoist an anchor to the cathead of a ship.
  • (Short form of) cat-o'-nine-tails.
  • *1839 , testimony by , recorded in the Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York (Assembly No. 335), page 44:
  • *:he used this '''cat''' on one other man, and then destroyed the ' cat wound with wire.
  • (lb) Any of a variety of earth-moving machines. (from their manufacturer )
  • (lb) A sturdy merchant sailing vessel (now only in "catboat").
  • The game of "trap and ball" (also called "cat and dog").
  • #The trap of the game of "trap and ball".
  • A vagina, a vulva; the female external genitalia.
  • *1969 , Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life (Holloway House Publishing):
  • *:"What the hell, so this broad's got a prematurely-gray cat ."
  • *2005 , Carolyn Chambers Sanders, Sins & Secrets (Hachette Digital):
  • *:As she came up, she tried to put her cat in his face for some licking.
  • *2007 , Franklin White, Money for Good (Simon and Schuster), page 64:
  • *:I had a notion to walk over to her, rip her apron off, sling her housecoat open and put my finger inside her cat to see if she was wet or freshly fucked because the dream I had earlier was beginning to really annoy me.
  • A double tripod (for holding a plate, etc.) with six feet, of which three rest on the ground, in whatever position it is placed.
  • Synonyms
    * ) * (any member of the family Felidae) felid * feline cat, a feline * pantherine cat, a pantherine * panther (i.e. tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard), (narrow sense) panther (i.e. black panther) * , "saber-toothed cat" (saber-tooth) * (domestic species) puss, pussy, malkin, kitty, pussy-cat, grimalkin * (man) bloke (qualifier), chap (British), cove (UK), dude, fellow, fella, guy * (spiteful woman) bitch * See also * See also
    Hyponyms
    * (domestic species) housecat, malkin, kitten, mouser, tomcat
    Derived terms
    * a cat may look at a king * all cats are grey in the dark, all cats are grey by night * alley cat * African golden cat * Andean cat * Asiatic golden cat * bay cat * black-footed cat * bobcat * barn cat * Burmese cat, Burmese * cat and mouse * cat box * cat food * cat that ate the canary, cat that swallowed the canary * cat in the meal-tub * cat in the sack * catbird * cat-block * cat-burglar * catcall * cat-eyed * caterwaul * catfish * cat-flap * cat-footed * cat got someone's tongue, cat got your tongue? * catgut * cat-harpin * cathead, cat-head * cat-house * cat-ice * catkin * cat-lap * cat-lick * catlike * catling * cat litter * catloaf * catly * catmint * cat-nap, cat nap, catnap * catnip * cat-o'-nine-tails * cat's cradle * cat's eye * cat's meat * cat's meow * cat's pajamas, the cat's pyjamas * cat's paw * cat scratch fever * cat state * cat's-tail * cat's whisker * cat's whiskers * cattish * catshit * cat-trap * catty * Caturday * catwalk, cat-walk * cat-witted * Chinese desert cat * copycat * curiosity killed the cat * domestic cat * fat cat * feral cat * fight like cats and dogs * fishing cat * flat-headed cat * Geoffroy's cat * housecat * it would make a cat laugh * jungle cat * lead a cat-and-dog life * leopard cat * let the cat out of the bag * like a cat in a strange garret * like a cat on hot bricks * like a cat on a hot tin roof * like herding cats * like the cat that got the cream * little spotted cat * lolcat * Maine Coon cat, Maine Coon * Manx cat, Manx * marbled cat * native cat * not enough room to swing a cat * Pallas cat * pampas cat * Persian cat, Persian * rain cats and dogs * reduced cat * Russian Blue cat, Russian Blue * rusty-spotted cat * sand cat * scaredy-cat * * Siamese cat, Siamese * spokescat * tabby cat, tabby * there's more than one way to skin a cat, there is more than one way to skin a cat * tom cat, tomcat * wait for the cat to jump * wildcat, wild cat * when the cat's away the mice will play
    See also
    * Burmese * feline * kitten, kitty * Manx * Maine Coon * meow * mog, moggie, moggy * miaow * nine lives * Persian * Russian Blue * * Siamese * tabby

    Verb

    (catt)
  • (nautical) To hoist (the anchor) by its ring so that it hangs at the cathead.
  • (nautical) To flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails.
  • (slang) To vomit something.
  • Etymology 2

    Abbreviation of catamaran .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A catamaran.
  • Etymology 3

    Abbreviation of catenate .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computing) A program and command in Unix that reads one or more files and directs their content to an output device.
  • Verb

    (catt)
  • (computing) To apply the cat command to (one or more files).
  • To dump large amounts of data on (an unprepared target) usually with no intention of browsing it carefully.
  • Etymology 4

    Possibly a shortened form of catastrophic.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (Ireland, informal) terrible, disastrous.
  • The weather was cat , so they returned home early.
    Usage notes
    This usage is common in speech but rarely appears in writing.

    Etymology 5

    Shortened from methcathinone.

    Noun

    (-)
  • Etymology 6

    Shortened from catapult.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (military, naval) A catapult.
  • a carrier's bow cats

    References

    prick

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) prik, prikke, from (etyl) prica, . Pejorative context came from prickers, or witch-hunters.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.
  • An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object.
  • (obsolete) A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point.
  • (obsolete) A tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot.
  • A small pointed object.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Pins, wooden pricks , nails, sprigs of rosemary.
  • * Bible, Acts ix. 5
  • It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks .
  • The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object.
  • I felt a sharp prick as the nurse took a sample of blood.
  • * A. Tucker
  • the pricks of conscience
  • (slang, vulgar) The penis.
  • (slang, pejorative) Someone (especially a man or boy) who is unpleasant, rude or annoying.
  • (now, historical) A small roll of yarn or tobacco.
  • The footprint of a hare.
  • (obsolete) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
  • * Shakespeare
  • the prick of noon
  • (obsolete) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.
  • * Spenser
  • they that shooten nearest the prick
    Derived terms
    * pricker * prickle * prickly * pricktease * prickteaser

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To pierce or puncture slightly.
  • John hardly felt the needle prick his arm when the adept nurse drew blood.
  • To form by piercing or puncturing.
  • to prick holes in paper
    to prick a pattern for embroidery
    to prick the notes of a musical composition
    (Cowper)
  • (dated) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
  • A sore finger pricks .
  • To incite, stimulate, goad.
  • * (rfdate), (Shakespeare), (Two Gentlemen of Verona) , ii. 7.
  • My duty pricks me on to utter that.
  • To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
  • * Bible, Acts ii. 37
  • Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.
  • * Tennyson
  • I was pricked with some reproof.
  • (archaic) To urge one's horse on; to ride quickly.
  • (Milton)
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.1:
  • At last, as through an open plaine they yode, / They spide a knight that towards them pricked fayre [...].
  • * 1881 , :
  • Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
  • (transitive, chiefly, nautical) To mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart).
  • (nautical, obsolete) To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail. (The Universal Dictionary of the English Language, 1896)
  • To make acidic or pungent.
  • (Hudibras)
  • To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
  • To aim at a point or mark.
  • (Hawkins)
  • To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
  • to prick a knife into a board
  • * Sandys
  • The cooks prick it [a slice] on a prong of iron.
    (Isaac Newton)
  • (obsolete) To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • Some who are pricked for sheriffs.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked .
  • To make sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; said especially of the ears of an animal, such as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up .
  • * Dryden
  • The courser pricks up his ears.
  • (obsolete) To dress; to prink; usually with up .
  • (farriery) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.
  • (Webster 1913)