PRIG - 15 definitions found
prig n 1: a person regarded as arrogant and annoying [syn: snob, prig, snot, snoot] prig grip pirg prig 1753, "precisian in speech or manners," earlier "dandy, fop" (1676), "thief" (1610), first recorded as a thieves' cant word for "a tinker" (1567); of unknown origin. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) prig I. noun Etymology: prig to steal Date: 1610 thief II. noun Etymology: probably from 1prig Date: 1676 1. archaic fop 2. archaic fellow, person 3. one who offends or irritates by observance of proprieties (as of speech or manners) in a pointed manner or to an obnoxious degree • priggery noun • priggish adjective • priggishly adverb • priggishness noun Oxford English Reference Dictionary
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner\'s English Dictionary prig (prigs) If you call someone a prig, you disapprove of them because they behave in a very moral way and disapprove of other people's behaviour as though they are superior. N-COUNT [disapproval] English Explanatory Dictionary prig prɪɡ n. a self-righteously correct or moralistic person. øøpriggery n. priggish adj. priggishly adv. priggishness n. [16th-c. cant, = tinker: orig. unkn.] 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue PRIG A thief, a cheat: also a conceited coxcomical fellow. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Prig \Prig\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Prigged; p. pr. & vb. n. Prigging.] [A modification of prick.] To haggle about the price of a commodity; to bargain hard. [Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Prig \Prig\, v. t. 1. To cheapen. [Scot.] 2. [Perhaps orig., to ride off with. See Prick, v. t.] To filch or steal; as, to prig a handkerchief. [Cant] Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) Prig \Prig\, n. 1. A pert, conceited, pragmatical fellow. The queer prig of a doctor. --Macaulay. 2. A thief; a filcher. [Cant] --Shak. Soule\'s Dictionary of English Synonyms prig n. Puppy, coxcomb, conceited, pert, or pragmatical fellow, fop, jackanapes. English Explanatory Dictionary (Synonyms) prig prɪɡ n. (ultra-)conservative, prude, purist, pedant, school-ma'm, puritan, (Mrs) Grundy, Grundyite, Grundyist, precisionist, precisian, conformist, formalist, Colloq stuffed shirt, stick-in-the-mud, goody-goody: A terrible prig, the headmaster forbade even the slightest hint of slang usage. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 45 Moby Thesaurus words for "prig": Brahmin, Grundy, Victorian, bluenose, clout, conformist, cop, egghead, elitist, filch, filcher, formalist, genteel, goody-goody, heist, highbrow, larcener, larcenist, mandarin, mid-Victorian, nab, name-dropper, nick, old maid, pedant, pilfer, pilferer, precisian, precisionist, priggish, prissy, prude, prudish, purist, puritan, puritanical, purloiner, snob, stealer, stick-in-the-mud, straitlaced, stuffed shirt, stuffy, thieve, tufthunter |
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