Word.ws English Dictionary

prickings

/ˈpɹɪkɪŋz/

prickings is the plural of pricking.

Meaning of pricking

Noun

pricking (countable and uncountable, plural prickings)

  1. The act of piercing or puncturing with a sharp point.
    • The prickings of thorns
  2. (figuratively) A sensation that pricks, or causes sharp emotional pain.
    • the prickings of conscience
  3. The driving of a nail into a horse's foot so as to produce lameness.
    • THE pricking a horse has proved to be as useless an operation as it is simple, seldom or never having the desired effect; consequently the practice should be abolished1841, Richard Mason, The Gentleman's New Pocket Farrier
  4. (archaic) A nicking.
    • No better material can be used than seggar or underclay prickings1906, George Mitcheson Bailes, Modern Mining Practice
  5. (archaic) The tracking of a hare by its footprints.
  6. (obsolete) Dressing oneself for show; prinking.

See all 7 meanings of pricking

Questions about prickings

What is prickings the plural of?
Prickings is the plural of pricking.
How do you pronounce prickings?
Prickings is pronounced /ˈpɹɪkɪŋz/.

Words near prickings in the dictionary

  1. pricking out
  2. pricking up
  3. pricking up one's ears
  4. pricking-up
  5. prickingly
  6. prickings
  7. prickish
  8. prickishness
  9. prickle
  10. prickle cell
  11. prickle cells

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: prickings (page history and authors); pricking (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “prickings.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prickings. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.