Pric"kle, v. t. To prick slightly, as with prickles, or fine, sharp
points.
Felt a horror over me creep, Prickle skin, and catch my breath.
Tennyson.
{ Pric"kle*back` (?), Pric"kle*fish` (?), } n. (Zoˆl.) The stickleback.
Prick"li*ness (?), n. [From Prickly.] The quality of being prickly, or
of having many prickles.
Prick"ling (?), a. Prickly. [Obs.] Spenser.
Prick"louse` (?), n. A tailor; -- so called in contempt. [Old slang]
L'Estrange.
Prick"ly, a. Full of sharp points or prickles; armed or covered with
prickles; as, a prickly shrub.
Prickly ash (Bot.), a prickly shrub (Xanthoxylum Americanum) with
yellowish flowers appearing with the leaves. All parts of the plant are
pungent and aromatic. The southern species is X. Carolinianum. Gray. --
Prickly heat (Med.), a noncontagious cutaneous eruption of red pimples,
attended with intense itching and tingling of the parts affected. It is
due to inflammation of the sweat glands, and is often brought on by
overheating the skin in hot weather. -- Prickly pear (Bot.), a name
given to several plants of the cactaceous genus Opuntia, American
plants consisting of fleshy, leafless, usually flattened, and often
prickly joints inserted upon each other. The sessile flowers have many
petals and numerous stamens. The edible fruit is a large pear-shaped
berry containing many flattish seeds. The common species of the
Northern Atlantic States is Opuntia vulgaris. In the South and West are
many others, and in tropical America more than a hundred more. O.
vulgaris, O. Ficus-Indica, and O. Tuna are abundantly introduced in the
Mediterranean region, and O. Dillenii has become common in India. --
Prickly pole (Bot.), a West Indian palm (Bactris Plumierana), the
slender trunk of which bears many rings of long black prickles. --
Prickly withe (Bot.), a West Indian cactaceous plant (Cereus
triangularis) having prickly, slender, climbing, triangular stems. --
Prickly rat (Zoˆl.), any one of several species of South American
burrowing rodents belonging to Ctenomys and allied genera. The hair is
usually intermingled with sharp spines.
Prick"mad`am (?), n. [F. trique- madame. Cf. Tripmadam.] (Bot.) A name
given to several species of stonecrop, used as ingredients of vermifuge
medicines. See Stonecrop.
Prick"punch` (?), n. A pointed steel punch, to prick a mark on metal.