Prick vs Punk - What's the difference?

prick | punk |

As nouns the difference between prick and punk

is that prick is a small hole or perforation, caused by piercing while punk is a prostitute; courtezan.

As verbs the difference between prick and punk

is that prick is to pierce or puncture slightly while punk is to pimp.

As an adjective punk is

of, from, or resembling the punk subculture.

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)

punk

English

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin. Possibly from the application of the sense

Noun

(obsolete, countable) A prostitute; courtezan.

* , V.i.

My lord, she may be a punk ; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife.

* 1663 : .

And made them fight, like mad or drunk,
For Dame Religion, as for punk .

(countable, uncommon) The bottom in a male-male sexual relationship, especially in prison.

Because he was so weak, Vinny soon became Tony's punk .

* 1946 , Mezz Mezzrow & Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues , Payback Press 1999, p. 15:

A punk , if you want it in plain English, is a boy with smooth skin who takes the place of a woman in a jailbird's love life.

(countable) A juvenile delinquent; a young, petty criminal or trouble-maker; a hoodlum; a hooligan.

(countable) Any worthless person.

* 1971 ,

I know what you're thinking, punk'. You're thinking, "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? / Well, do ya, ' punk ?

(uncountable) A social and musical movement rooted in rebelling against the established order.

(uncountable) The music of the punk movement, known for short songs with electric guitars, strong drums, and a direct, unproduced approach.

(countable, sometimes as informal plural punx) A person who belongs to that movement and/or listens to that music, a punk rocker.

Usage notes

The most common use of the term is in the term punk rock (for a certain social and musical movement). In the UK, this is the only common usage.

Adjective

(er)

Of, from, or resembling the subculture.

''You look very punk with your t-shirt, piercing and chains.

Verb

(en verb)

To pimp.

Tony punked-out Vinny when he was low on smokes.

To forcibly perform anal sex upon an unwilling partner.

Ricky punked his new cell-mates.

To prank.

I got expelled when I punked the principal.

To give up or concede; to act like a wimp.

Jimmy was going to help me with the prank, but he punked (out) at the last minute.

Usage notes

The relatively tame 21st century usage of punk'' to mean "prank" was popularized by the American television show . Until as recently as the late 20th century, ''punk'' still connoted rape or submitting to anal rape (''punk-out''). The second use of the term ''punk-out'' is now comparable to acting like a ''pussy and mildly implies submissive behavior in general.

Synonyms

* see

Derived terms

* cyberpunk * post-punk * protopunk * punk music * punk rock * punkabilly * punker * punkette * punkish * punkling * punkster * punky * ska punk

Etymology 2

Perhaps a reduction of Lenape Talking Dictionary'', punkw.Robert K. Barnhart (editor), ''The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology'' (H. W. Wilson, 1988), page 864: "Probably borrowed from Algonquian (Delaware) ''ponk , literally, living ashes."

Noun

(uncountable) Any material used as tinder for lighting fires, such as agaric, dried wood, or touchwood, but especially wood altered by certain fungi.

* 1899 , H. B. Cushman, History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians , page 271:

On one occasion a venerable old Indian man, who, in order to light his pipe, was trying to catch a spark upon a piece of punk struck from his flint and steel; ...

* 1922 , Harry Ignatius Marshall, The Karen People of Burma , page 61:

The oil is mixed with bits of dry wood or punk and moulded into sticks about a cubit long and an inch in diameter by putting it into joints of small bamboo.

* 2001 , William W. Johnstone, War of the Mountain Man , page 116:

He made him a little smoldering pocket of punk to light the fuses and waited.

(countable) A utensil for lighting wicks or fuses (such as those of fireworks) resembling stick incense.

* 1907 , Jack London, The Road , [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14658]:

On the end a coal of fire slowly smouldered. It would last for hours, and my cell-mate called it a "punk ."

* 1994 , Ashland Price, Viking Tempest , page 353:

Then, without another word, he rose and left the shelter, apparently in order to light the vessel's wick with a punk from the dying campfire.

* 2004 , Shawn Shiflett, Hidden Place , page 221:

He raised the cylinder high in the air with his bare hand, used a punk to light the fuse, and KABOOM !

References

English words with different meanings in different locations ----