prig
/pɹɪɡ/
prig noun: a deliberately superior person; a person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
Noun
prig (plural prigs)
- A deliberately superior person; a person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
- What spruce prig is that?1676, George Etherege, The Man of Mode, act 3, scene 3
- I have always had a regard for dunces; — those of my own school-days were amongst the pleasantest of the fellows, and have turned out by no means the dullest in life; whereas many a youth who could turn off Latin hexameters by the yard, and construe Greek quite glibly, is no better than a feeble...1849, William Makepeace Thackeray, “A Hopeless Case”, in Doctor Birch
- Synonyms:
- goody-goody, prude, puritan
- A conceited dandy; a fop.
- A rap now at the door made all resound, / And in two bouncing blowings did rebound, / With two flash-men, a dandy, and a prig', / With whom they had been running of the rig.1822, Thomas Dolby, Benchiana, page 67
- The manner of the scholar had nearly disappeared; still more the manner of the drawing-room young man. A prig would have said that he had lost his culture, and a prude that he had become coarse.1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, page 140
- Synonyms:
- barbermonger, beau, blade, blood, buck, carpet knight, cockscomb, dandy, dike, dood
- A tinker.
- These droncken Tynckers, called also Prygges.1566, Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors
- A petty thief or pickpocket.
- Out upon him! Prig, for my life, prig! He haunts / wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Oh, why didn't he rob some rich old gentleman of all his walables, and go out as a gentleman, and not like a common prig, without no honour nor glory!1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- abstractor, appropriator, bagger, booster, borrower, cribber, faker, filcher, flogger, heister
Verb
prig (third-person singular simple present prigs, present participle prigging, simple past and past participle prigged)
- To filch or steal.
- to prig a handkerchief
- Now, this Trailer he bestrides the horse which he priggeth, and saddles and bridles him as orderly as if he were his own, and then carieth him far from the place of his breed, and ther sels him.1591, Robert Greene, The Second and Last Part of Conny-catching
- Synonyms:
- cozen, mill, purloin, steal, abduct, abstract, appropriate, bag, bandit, bash and grab
- To ride.
- To copulate.
- Wapping thou I know does love, / Else the ruffin cly the mort; / From thy stampers then remove, / Thy drawers, and let's prig in sport.1707, “The Maunder's Praise of his Strowling Mort”, in Farmer, John Stephen, editor, Musa Pedestris, published 1896, page 34
- Synonyms:
- sleep with, Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with
prig meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
prig in Hindi
- prig, fop
- दंभी dambhī
prig in Tamil
- நடையழுத்தக்காரர்
prig in Urdu
- کٹر, چرانا
prig in Bengali
- বেশি নিয়মনিষ্ঠ, দাম্ভিক ব্যক্তি
More languagesFewer languages
- prig in Malayalam
- കള്ളൻ, നീചൻ, തണ്ടൻ, ഹീനൻ
- prig in Kannada
- ಅತಿನಿಷ್ಠ, ತೀರಾ ಕಟ್ಟುನಿಟ್ಟಿನವ, ಅಹಂಕಾರಿ, ಸ್ವಾರ್ಥಿ
Examples of prig in a sentence
- A prig is a fellow who is always making you a present of his opinions.1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Middlemarch […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh; London: William...
- But a policeman captur'd the naughty boy, / And gave the goose to Smiggs, / And said he was greatly bother'd / By a set of juvenile prigs.a. 1890, William McGonagall, The Christmas Goose:
- Higgen hath prig'd the Prancers in his Days1622, John Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, published 1706, Scene 2, page 71:
- If she'd ha' taken herself off and stopped at that I dunno as I should have any occasion to grumble; but she prigged the furniture that I'd laid in agin getting married.1890, William Clark Russell, An Ocean Tragedy, volume 1, page 204:
Synonyms of prig
- goody-goody
- prude
- puritan
- carpet knight
- dandy
- dood
- fashionable
- fast man
- fine gentleman
- fop
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of prig
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | prigs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | prigs |
| present participle | prigging |
| past participle | prigged |
| past | prigged |
Origin of prig
UK 16th century. Of unknown origin. Earlier noun senses ("tinker" and "thief"), as hyponyms of "undesirable person", may have informed later senses ("conceited person").
Words formed from prig
- parish prig
- prig and buz
- prigdom
- priggery
- priggess
- priggish
- priggishly
- priggism
- prighood
- prig napper
- prig-star
- work on the prig
Words that rhyme with prig
Questions about prig
- What does prig mean?
- Prig means a deliberately superior person; a person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
- What is prig in Hindi?
- Prig in Hindi is दंभी (dambhī). See Prig meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use prig in a sentence?
- A prig is a fellow who is always making you a present of his opinions.
- What part of speech is prig?
- Prig can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce prig?
- Prig is pronounced /pɹɪɡ/.
- What is the plural of prig?
- The plural of prig is prigs.
Words near prig in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: prig (page history and authors); दंभी (Hindi) (page history and authors); prig (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prig (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prig (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prig (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); prig (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-prig.ogg.
Cite this entry: “prig.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/prig. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.