PRICK THE GARTER, or PITCH THE NOB, a gambling and cheating game common
at fairs, and generally practised by thimble riggers. It consists of a
“garter” or a piece of list doubled, and then folded up tight. The bet
is made upon your asserting that you can, with a pin, “prick” the point
at which the garter is doubled. The garter is then unfolded, and nine
times out of ten you will find that you have been deceived, and that
you pricked one of the false folds. The owner of the garter, I should
state, holds the ends tightly with one hand. This was, doubtless,
originally a Gipsey game, and we are informed by _Brand_ that it was
much practised by the Gipseys in the time of _Shakespere_. In those
days, it was termed PRICKING AT THE BELT, or FAST AND LOOSE.
PRIG, a thief. Used by _Addison_ in the sense of a coxcomb. _Ancient
cant_, probably from the _Saxon_, PRICC-AN, to filch, &c.—_Shakespere._
PRIG, to steal, or rob. PRIGGING, thieving. In _Scotland_ the term PRIG
is used in a different sense from what it is in England. In Glasgow, or
at Aberdeen, “to PRIG a salmon,” would be to cheapen it, or seek for an
abatement in the price. A story is told of two Scotchmen, visitors to
London, who got into sad trouble a few years ago by announcing their
intention of “PRIGGING a hat” which they had espied in a fashionable
manufacturer’s window, and which one of them thought he would like to
possess.
PRIME PLANT, a good subject for plunder.—_See_ PLANT.
PRIMED, said of a person in that state of incipient intoxication that
if he takes more drink it will become evident.