- present participle of prick.
pricking
AmericanEtymology
Origin of pricking
before 1000; Middle English; Old English pricung; see prick, -ing 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That’s where it started when I was pricking that bubble of comedians who think they’re changing the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2025
It is only then, once you are still, that a now low, whipping wind, riddled with sand begins pricking and abrading your skin and collecting in the pages of your novel; it is intolerable.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2025
The authors found that the three variants were associated with a lower pain threshold in response to skin pricking after prior exposure to mustard oil, but not in response to heat or pressure.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
The current gold standard test—only conducted in specialized allergy clinics—involves pricking the skin and injecting a small amount of penicillin.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 5, 2023
And in my head I was already trotting off, looking for that stick, even though I could smell the stink and the thorns were pricking me.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
