priss

[ pris ]

noun

1. someone who is excessively prim, proper, or fussy; an affectedly dainty or prissy person:

   Call me a priss, but I think the relentless explicitness in this novel reduces the characters somehow.

verb (used without object)

1. to act or move in a prim, fussy, or affectedly dainty way, like a priss:

   I’m not one to primp and priss over myself in the bathroom.

   At halftime I like to see the baton twirlers priss around in their itty-bitty costumes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of priss¹

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; back formation from prissy

Example Sentences

Amina keeps her musical activities a secret from her devout school friends, forcing the already nervous priss into a double life.

From Washington Post

In those hours beside Mark, Priss completed the transition from girl to woman.

From Project Gutenberg

Priss read it over his shoulder, and afterwards she clung close to Joel.

From Project Gutenberg

Joel was below, in the cabin with Priss, when his brother boarded the ship.

From Project Gutenberg

“My dear Priss,” he said, in the elder-brother manner he affected toward her.

From Project Gutenberg

Priss had planned to go ashore in the afternoon; but Mark dissuaded her.

From Project Gutenberg