different between prick vs reduce

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

From Middle English reducen, from Old French reducer, from Latin red?c? (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + d?c? (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???dju?s/, /???d?u?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???du?s/
• Rhymes: -u?s

Verb

reduce (third-person singular simple present reduces, present participle reducing, simple past and past participle reduced)

1. (transitive) To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower.
2. (intransitive) To lose weight.
3. (transitive) To bring to an inferior rank; to degrade, to demote.
   • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering

     My father, the eldest son of an ancient but reduced family, left me with little.

   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Folly of Scoffing at Religion

     nothing so excellent but a man may falten upon something or other belonging to it whereby to reduce it .

   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     Having reduced their foe to misery beneath their fears.

   • Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced.
4. (transitive) To humble; to conquer; to subdue; to capture.

5. (transitive) To bring to an inferior state or condition.

6. (transitive, cooking) To decrease the liquid content of food by boiling much of its water off.
   • 2011, Edward Behr and James MacGuire, The Art of Eating Cookbook: Essential Recipes from the First 25 Years.

     Serve the oxtails with mustard or a sauce made by reducing the soup, if any is left, to a slightly thick sauce.

7. (transitive, chemistry) To add electrons / hydrogen or to remove oxygen.
8. (transitive, metallurgy) To produce metal from ore by removing nonmetallic elements in a smelter.
9. (transitive, mathematics) To simplify an equation or formula without changing its value.
10. (transitive, computer science) To express the solution of a problem in terms of another (known) algorithm.
11. (transitive, logic) To convert a syllogism to a clearer or simpler form
12. (transitive, law) To convert to written form. (Usage note: this verb almost always appears as "reduce to writing".)

13. (transitive, medicine) To perform a reduction; to restore a fracture or dislocation to the correct alignment.
14. (transitive, military) To reform a line or column from (a square).
15. (transitive, military) To strike off the payroll.
16. (transitive, Scotland, law) To annul by legal means.
17. (transitive, obsolete) To translate (a book, document, etc.).

Synonyms

• (to bring down): cut, decrease, lower
• (cooking): inspissate; see also Thesaurus:thicken

Antonyms

• (to bring down): increase

Related terms

Translations

See also

• reducing agent

References

• reduce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin redux (“that returns”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?.du.t??e/

Adjective

reduce (plural reduci) (da)

1. returning (from)

   Synonym: ritornato

Noun

reduce m or f (plural reduci)

1. survivor

   Synonym: sopravvissuto

2. veteran (of a conflict)

   Synonyms: veterano, ex combattente

Anagrams

• ducere

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /re?du?.ke/, [r??d?u?k?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /re?du.t??e/, [r??d?u?t???]

Verb

red?ce

1. second-person singular present active imperative of red?c?

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.ke/, [?r?d??k?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.t??e/, [?r??d?ut???]
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.ke/, [?r?d??k?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?re.du.t??e/, [?r??d?ut???]

Adjective

r?duce

1. ablative masculine singular of r??dux
2. ablative feminine singular of r??dux
3. ablative neuter singular of r??dux

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin reducere, French réduire, based on duce. Compare the inherited doublet ar?duce.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /re?dut?e/, [re??d?ut?e?]

Verb

a reduce (third-person singular present reduce, past participle redus) 3rd conj.

1. (transitive) to reduce, to lessen

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• duce

See also

• ar?duce

Spanish

Verb

reduce

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of reducir.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of reducir.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of reducir.