Word.ws English Dictionary

pricksong

pricksong noun: music that is sung from notation written with dots or points, as opposed to by ear; sheet music.

Noun

pricksong (plural pricksongs)

  1. (historical) Music that is sung from notation written with dots or points, as opposed to by ear; sheet music.
    • Well said, wench, and the prick-song we use shall be our husbands'.1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, I.1
  2. (historical) A melody performed as a counterpoint to a plainsong.

Forms of pricksong

pluralpricksongs

Origin of pricksong

From prick + song.

Questions about pricksong

What does pricksong mean?
Pricksong means music that is sung from notation written with dots or points, as opposed to by ear; sheet music.
What part of speech is pricksong?
Pricksong is a noun.
What is the plural of pricksong?
The plural of pricksong is pricksongs.

Words near pricksong in the dictionary

  1. pricks out
  2. pricks up
  3. pricks up one's ears
  4. prickshaft
  5. prickshafts
  6. pricksong
  7. pricksongs
  8. prickt
  9. pricktease
  10. prickteaser
  11. prickteasers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pricksong (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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