prick-eared

American  

[prik-eerd] / ˈprɪkˌɪərd /

adjective

1. having the ears upright and pointed.

   a prick-eared dog.

2. British.

   1. Informal. (of a man) having the hair cut short.

   2. Archaic. following or sympathetic to the Puritans or Roundheads.

   3. Archaic. priggish.

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Etymology

Origin of prick-eared

late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prick-eared

A few years earlier, it was a group of Bedford, N.H., seventh-graders who brought a prick-eared, frizzy-coated breed known as the Chinook to the attention of that state’s legislature.

From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2012

In another moment, through the snow-encrusted glass of the carriage window, he saw a gaunt prick-eared head, with gaping jaw and lolling tongue and gleaming teeth; a second later another head shot up.

From Beasts and Super-Beasts by Saki

Beneath that urbane mask of his, a hunted, wild thing poised in question, mistrustful of the very wind, prick-eared, fangs agleam, eyes grimly apprehensive….

From The False Faces Further Adventures from the History of the Lone Wolf by Vance, Louis Joseph

Ask of the old grey wallaby there-- Him prick-eared by the woollybutt tree-- How to encounter a Glug, and where The country of Gosh, famed Gosh may be.

From The Glugs of Gosh by Dennis, C. J. (Clarence James)

He was part collie, sharp-nosed and prick-eared, and his undersized little body still bore the marks of the precarious existence that had been his before Rathburn had befriended him.

From The Tangled Threads by Porter, Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman)