different between prick vs push

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??k/, [p?????k]
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology 1

From Middle English prik, prikke, from Old English prica, pricu (“a sharp point, minute mark, spot, dot, small portion, prick”), from Proto-Germanic *prikô, *prik? (“a prick, point”), of uncertain origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *brey?- (“to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap”). Cognate with West Frisian prik (“small hole”), Dutch prik (“point, small stick”), Danish prik (“dot”), Icelandic prik (“dot, small stick”). Pejorative context came from prickers, or witch-hunters.

Noun

prick (plural pricks)

1. A small hole or perforation, caused by piercing. [from 10th c.]
2. An indentation or small mark made with a pointed object. [from 10th c.]
3. (obsolete) A dot or other diacritical mark used in writing; a point. [10th-18th c.]
4. (obsolete) A tiny particle; a small amount of something; a jot. [10th-18th c.]
5. A small pointed object. [from 10th c.]
6. The experience or feeling of being pierced or punctured by a small, sharp object. [from 13th c.]

7. A feeling of remorse.
   • 1768–1777, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued

     the pricks of conscience

8. (slang, vulgar) The penis. [from 16th c.]
9. (Britain, Australia, US, slang, derogatory) Someone (especially a man or boy) who is unpleasant, rude or annoying. [from 16th c.]
10. (now historical) A small roll of yarn or tobacco. [from 17th c.]
11. The footprint of a hare.
12. (obsolete) A point or mark on the dial, noting the hour.
13. (obsolete) The point on a target at which an archer aims; the mark; the pin.
    • 1579, Edmund Spenser, The Shepheardes Calender, "September"

      they that shooten nearest the prick

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English prikken, from Old English prician, priccan (“to prick”), from Proto-Germanic *prik?n?, *prikjan? (“to pierce, prick”), of uncertain origin; perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *brey?- (“to scrape, scratch, rub, prickle, chap”). Cognate with dialectal English pritch, Dutch prikken (“to prick, sting”), Middle High German pfrecken (“to prick”), Swedish pricka (“to dot, prick”), and possibly to Lithuanian ?br?žti (“to scrape, scratch, carve, inscribe, strike”).

Verb

prick (third-person singular simple present pricks, present participle pricking, simple past and past participle pricked)

1. (transitive) To pierce or puncture slightly. [from 11th c.]
   1. (farriery) To drive a nail into (a horse's foot), so as to cause lameness.
2. (transitive) To form by piercing or puncturing.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Cowper to this entry?)

3. (obsolete) To mark or denote by a puncture; to designate by pricking; to choose; to mark.
   • c. 1620, Francis Bacon, letter of advice to Sir George Villiers

     Some who are pricked for sheriffs.
4. (transitive, chiefly nautical) To mark the surface of (something) with pricks or dots; especially, to trace a ship’s course on (a chart). [from 16th c.]
5. (nautical, obsolete) To run a middle seam through the cloth of a sail.
6. To fix by the point; to attach or hang by puncturing.
   • 1615, George Sandys, The Relation of a Journey begun an. Dom. 1610, in four books

     The cooks [...]prick it [a slice] on a prog of iron.
7. (intransitive, dated) To be punctured; to suffer or feel a sharp pain, as by puncture.
   • 17th century (probably 1606), William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, scene 1:

     By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes.

8. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become sharp; to erect into a point; to raise, as something pointed; said especially of the ears of an animal, such as a horse or dog; and usually followed by up.

   • The courser [...] pricks up his ears.

9. (horticulture) Usually in the form prick out: to plant (seeds or seedlings) in holes made in soil at regular intervals.
10. (transitive) To incite, stimulate, goad. [from 13th c.]
11. (intransitive, archaic) To urge one's horse on; to ride quickly. [from 14th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:

      At last, as through an open plaine they yode,
      They spide a knight that towards them pricked fayre [...].

    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, lines 527 to 538.

    • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

      Indeed, it is a memorable subject for consideration, with what unconcern and gaiety mankind pricks on along the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

12. To affect with sharp pain; to sting, as with remorse.

    • Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.

    • ?, Alfred Tennyson, Geraint and Enid

      I was pricked with some reproof.

13. (transitive) To make acidic or pungent.
14. (intransitive) To become sharp or acid; to turn sour, as wine.
15. To aim at a point or mark.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Hawkins to this entry?)

16. (obsolete, usually as prick up) to dress or adorn; to prink.

Translations

Swedish

Pronunciation

Adverb

prick

1. exactly, sharp, on the spot

Noun

prick c

1. a dot, small spot

2. a remark, a stain (in a record of good behaviour)

3. a guy, person; especially about a particularly nice or funny one

4. a floating seamark in the form of a painted pole, possibly with cones, lights and reflectors

Usage notes

(guy, person): Mainly used in conjunction with the adjectives rolig (“funny”) or trevlig (“nice”), but also ruskig (“eerie, scary”).

Declension

Related terms

• pricka
• prickig

Derived terms

References

• prick in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English pushen, poshen, posson, borrowed from Middle French pousser (Modern French pousser) from Old French poulser, from Latin pulsare, frequentative of pellere (past participle pulsus) "to beat, strike". Doublet of pulsate. Displaced native Middle English thrucchen ("to push"; > Modern English thrutch) (from Old English þryccan (“to push”)), Middle English scauten (“to push, thrust”) (from Old Norse skota), Middle English thuden, thudden (“to push, press, thrust”) (from Old English þ?dan, þyddan (“to thrust, press, push”)). Partially displaced Middle English schoven (“to push, shove”) (from Old English scofian), Middle English schuven (“to shove, push”) (from Old English sc?fan, sc?ofan (“to shove, push, thrust”))

Pronunciation

• enPR: po?osh, IPA^(key): /p??/
• (Appalachian) IPA^(key): [pu?]
• IPA^(key): [p???]
• Rhymes: -??

Verb

push (third-person singular simple present pushes, present participle pushing, simple past and past participle pushed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force.

2. (transitive) To continually attempt to persuade (a person) into a particular course of action.
   • December 7, 1710, Jonathan Swift, The Examiner, Number 18

     We are pushed for an answer.

   • December 22, 1711, letter to The Spectator

     Ambition […] pushes the soul to such actions as are apt to procure honour and reputation to the actor.

3. (transitive) To press or urge forward; to drive.

   • to push his fortune

4. (transitive) To continually promote (a point of view, a product for sale, etc.).

5. (intransitive) To continually exert oneself in order to achieve a goal.
6. (informal, transitive) To approach; to come close to.

   (= he's nearly sixty years old)

7. (intransitive) To tense the muscles in the abdomen in order to expel its contents.

8. (intransitive) To continue to attempt to persuade a person into a particular course of action.
9. To make a higher bid at an auction.
10. (poker) To make an all-in bet.
11. (chess, transitive) To move (a pawn) directly forward.
12. (computing) To add (a data item) to the top of a stack.
13. (computing) To publish (an update, etc.) by transmitting it to other computers.
14. (obsolete) To thrust the points of the horns against; to gore.

    • If the ox shall push a manservant or maidservant, […] the ox shall be stoned.

15. To burst out of its pot, as a bud or shoot.
16. (snooker) To strike the cue ball in such a way that it stays in contact with the cue and object ball at the same time (a foul shot).

Synonyms

• (transitive: apply a force to (an object) so it moves away): press, shove, thrutch
• (continue to attempt to persuade): press, urge
• (continue to promote): press, advertise, promote
• (come close to): approach, near
• (intransitive: apply force to an object so that it moves away): press, shove, thring
• (tense the muscles in the abdomen in order to expel its contents): bear down

Antonyms

• (apply a force to something so it moves away): draw, pull, tug
• (put onto a stack): pop

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• pedal pushers
• push it

Translations

Noun

push (countable and uncountable, plural pushes)

1. A short, directed application of force; an act of pushing.

2. An act of tensing the muscles of the abdomen in order to expel its contents.

3. A great effort (to do something).

4. An attempt to persuade someone into a particular course of action.
5. (military) A marching or drill maneuver/manoeuvre performed by moving a formation (especially a company front) forward or toward the audience, usually to accompany a dramatic climax or crescendo in the music.
6. A wager that results in no loss or gain for the bettor as a result of a tie or even score
7. (computing) The addition of a data item to the top of a stack.
8. (Internet, uncountable) The situation where a server sends data to a client without waiting for a request.

9. (slang, Britain, obsolete, now chiefly Australia) A particular crowd or throng or people.
   • 1891, Banjo Paterson, An Evening in Dandaloo

     Till some wild, excited person

     Galloped down the township cursing,

     "Sydney push have mobbed Macpherson,

     Roll up, Dandaloo!"

   • 1994, David Malouf, A First Place, Vintage 2015, p. 37:

     My father […] was soon as unambiguously Australian as any other member of the rough Rugby pushes that in the years before the Great War made up the mixed and liverly world of South Brisbane.

10. (snooker) A foul shot in which the cue ball is in contact with the cue and the object ball at the same time

Derived terms

• give someone the push
• push factor

Translations

Etymology 2

Probably French poche. See pouch.

Pronunciation

Noun

push (plural pushes)

1. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) A pustule; a pimple.
   • Template:RQ:Bacon Of Praise

     a Push rise upon his Nose

References

• push in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• push at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• PHUs, Phus, shup

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *puša, from *puksja, from Proto-Indo-European *pewk- (“covered with hair, bushy”). Related to Sanskrit ????? (púccha, “tail”), Proto-Slavic *pux? (“down”).

Noun

push m (indefinite plural pusha, definite singular pushi, definite plural pushat)

1. light hair, fluff, down, nap, pile

References