Barb vs Prick - What's the difference?
barb | prick |
The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
* :
(figuratively) A hurtful or disparaging remark.
A beard, or that which resembles it, or grows in the place of it.
*
Armor for a horse, corrupted from bard.
* 1786 , Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons , page 29:
(ornithology) One of the side branches of a feather, which collectively constitute the vane.
(zoology) Several species of freshwater fish of the cyprinid family.
(zoology) A southern name for the kingfishes of the eastern and southeastern coasts of the United States; also improperly called whiting.
(botany) A hair or bristle ending in a double hook.
(zoology) A blackish or dun variety of the pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.
(obsolete) A muffler, worn by nuns and mourners.
Paps, or little projections, of the mucous membrane, which mark the opening of the submaxillary glands under the tongue in horses and cattle. The name is mostly applied when the barbs are inflamed and swollen. [Written also barbel and barble.]
(obsolete) A bit for a horse.
A plastic fastener, shaped roughly like a capital I (with serifs), used to attach socks etc. to their packaging.
To furnish with barbs, or with that which will hold or hurt like barbs, as an arrow, fishhook, spear, etc.
*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
*:But rattling storm of arrows barbed with fire.
*
*:Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed , and that was a little beyond our skill.
To cover a horse in armor, corrupted from bard.
*1592 , (William Shakespeare), , Act I, Scene I, line 10:
*:And now, in stead of mounting barbed steeds / To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, / He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber.
(lb) To shave or dress the beard of.
(lb) To clip; to mow.
:(Marston)
The Barbary horse, a superior breed introduced from Barbary into Spain by the Moors.
A blackish or dun variety of pigeon, originally brought from Barbary.
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
* Bible, Acts ix. 5
The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object.
* A. Tucker
(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
(obsolete) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.
* Spenser
To pierce or puncture slightly.
To form by piercing or puncturing.
(dated) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
To incite, stimulate, goad.
* (rfdate), (Shakespeare), (Two Gentlemen of Verona) , ii. 7.
To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.
* Bible, Acts ii. 37
* Tennyson
(archaic) To urge one's horse on; to ride quickly.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.1:
* 1881 , :
(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.
To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
To aim at a point or mark.
To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
* Sandys
(obsolete) To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.
* Francis Bacon
* Sir Walter Scott
* Shakespeare
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
(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)
As nouns the difference between barb and prick
is that barb is (label) a fan of the american singer (nicki minaj), especially a female one while prick is a small hole or perforation, caused by piercing.As a proper noun barb
is a diminutive of the female given name barbara.As a verb prick is
to pierce or puncture slightly.barb
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl)Noun
(en noun)- Having two barbs or points.
- The barbel, so called by reason of his barbs, or wattles in his mouth.
- The defensive armor with the horses of the ancient knights ... These are frequently, though improperly, stiled barbs .
- (Spenser)
Verb
Etymology 2
From , by shorteningNoun
(en noun)See also
* (wikipedia "barb") *Anagrams
* * English terms with multiple etymologies ----prick
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) prik, prikke, from (etyl) prica, . Pejorative context came from prickers, or witch-hunters.Noun
(en noun)- Pins, wooden pricks , nails, sprigs of rosemary.
- It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks .
- I felt a sharp prick as the nurse took a sample of blood.
- the pricks of conscience
- the prick of noon
- they that shooten nearest the prick
Derived terms
* pricker * prickle * prickly * pricktease * prickteaserEtymology 2
From (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- John hardly felt the needle prick his arm when the adept nurse drew blood.
- to prick holes in paper
- to prick a pattern for embroidery
- to prick the notes of a musical composition
- (Cowper)
- A sore finger pricks .
- My duty pricks me on to utter that.
- Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.
- I was pricked with some reproof.
- (Milton)
- At last, as through an open plaine they yode, / They spide a knight that towards them pricked fayre [...].
- Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
- (Hudibras)
- (Hawkins)
- to prick a knife into a board
- The cooks prick it [a slice] on a prong of iron.
- (Isaac Newton)
- Some who are pricked for sheriffs.
- Let the soldiers for duty be carefully pricked off.
- Those many, then, shall die: their names are pricked .
- The courser pricks up his ears.