prig
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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prigs,
present (3rd person singular)
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prigged,
past participle, past
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prigging
present participle
verb (used without object)
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prigs,
present (3rd person singular)
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prigged,
past participle, past
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prigging
present participle
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Scot. and North England. to haggle or argue over price.
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British Informal. to beg or entreat; ask a favor.
noun
verb
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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prigsimple
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prigssimple
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have priggedperfect
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has priggedperfect
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am priggingprogressive
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are priggingprogressive
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is priggingprogressive
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have been priggingperfect progressive
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has been priggingperfect progressive
Past
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priggedsimple
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had priggedperfect
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was priggingprogressive
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were priggingprogressive
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had been priggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of prig1
First recorded in 1560–70; formerly, “coxcomb”; perhaps akin to prink
Origin of prig2
First recorded in 1505–15; originally thieves' cant; origin uncertain
Explanation
If you act like you're better than everyone else, they might start calling you a prig — a snobby and arrogant person. A prig might lecture his friends about their manners, or complain about having to eat at a diner instead of a fancier restaurant. Prigs tend to be self-centered and uptight and aren't much fun to be around. In the eighteenth century, prig meant "precise in speech in manners," and implied someone who was deeply religious. The origin of the word is a mystery — its earlier meanings included "dandy or fop" and "thief."
Vocabulary lists containing prig
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.
See Examples For:
What if I sounded like a moralizing, self-righteous prig?
From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2023
The Professor, Sonia’s father, is a selfish and pompous prig who hates Vanya as much as Vanya hates him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2023
In comparison, Schultz comes off as less of a martinet and more of a prig in the trial transcripts.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2020
But the benevolent smile lurking under the pre-World War I mustache is deceiving: The man is a sanctimonious prig who siphons all the fun out of life.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2019
“I had nae wish to kill! He was own cousin to the Orkneys! And think ye that the southron prig, him of the white shield, had before refused to ride with him!”
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
“We are all a bunch of prigs in Washington, after all.”
From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2018
At the same time the intellectual elite—particularly the Bloomsbury set—took to ridiculing as prigs and bores the Victorian giants who had built up the economic and moral capital which they lived off.
From Economist ● Oct. 5, 2017
How the prigs managed to nab the labels “correct” and “proper” for their particular form of slang is another matter.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 25, 2016
Purists and prigs might recoil, but if they do, then Mr. Barker will probably feel that he has done his job.
From New York Times ● Jul. 17, 2013
Though he could not have been very sensible, from what he himself says, of their highest qualities, he championed Scott's novels incessantly against the Whigs and prigs of Holland House.
From Essays in English Literature, 1780-1860 by George Saintsbury
Then she prigged with him just to let her hold one in her hands, for said she, bairnlike, "I used to get one every day."
From Sentimental Tommy The Story of His Boyhood by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
I have prigged the whole thing from the last Victorian Edition—with some slight variations….
From Boon, The Mind of the Race, The Wild Asses of the Devil, and The Last Trump; Being a First Selection from the Literary Remains of George Boon, Appropriate to the Times by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Well, when the smash come, I dodged in and prigged it.
From The Opal Serpent by Fergus Hume
I've seen lassies makkin' themsels sma' for lads often enough, but I never saw ane 'at prigged so muckle wi' her ain brother.
From A Window in Thrums by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
"I might have prigged this box of figs," the damsel said good-naturedly, "and you'd never have turned round."
From Burlesques by William Makepeace Thackeray
"What do you mean by prigging my things for your stall?" she demanded angrily.
From The Head Girl at the Gables by Angela Brazil
All the boys and girls around, Who go out prigging rags and phials, Know Jemmy Catsnatch!!! well, Who lives in a back slum in the Dials.
From A History of the Cries of London Ancient and Modern by Charles Hindley
There! that's for you brats; just a little taste to give you a relish for prigging; it's a thing you'll take to more kindly if it's made agreeable to you.
From The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 4 of 6 by Eugène Sue
The drying and bleaching linen was an unceasing attraction to rascals like Autolycus, who had a "pugging tooth"—that is, a prigging tooth.
From Old-Time Gardens Newly Set Forth by Alice Morse Earle
Next minute there was me, my very arms prigging wi' him to think better o't, and him standing ready to loup, has knees bent, and not a tremble in them.
From The Little Minister by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
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