different between prick vs whip

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 whippen, wippen (“to flap violently”), from Middle Dutch wippen (“to swing, leap, dance, oscillate”) and Middle Low German wippen (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Germanic *wipjan? (“to move back and forth”). Some similarity to Sanskrit root ???? (vep, “shake, flourish”), Latin vibr? (“I shake”). (See Swedish vippa and Danish vippe (“to shake”)).

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?p, IPA^(key): /w?p/
• Rhymes: -?p
• enPR: hw?p, IPA^(key): /??p/

Noun

whip (plural whips)

1. A lash; a pliant, flexible instrument, such as a rod (commonly of cane or rattan) or a plaited or braided rope or thong (commonly of leather) used to create a sharp "crack" sound for directing or herding animals.
   1. The same instrument used to strike a person or animal for corporal punishment or torture.

2. A blow administered with a whip.
   • 1832, The Atheneum (volume 31, page 493)

     I had hardly said the word, when Kit jumped into the saddle, and gave his horse a whip and a spur — and off it cantered, as if it were in as great a hurry to be married as Kit himself.

3. (hunting) A whipper-in.
   • 1928, Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, Penguin 2013, p. 27:

     From the far side of the wood came the long shrill screech […] which signifies that one of the whips has viewed the fox quitting the covert.

4. (politics) A member of a political party who is in charge of enforcing the party's policies in votes.

5. (UK politics, with definite article) A document distributed weekly to MPs by party whips informing them of upcoming votes in parliament.
6. Whipped cream.

7. (nautical) A purchase in which one block is used to gain a 2:1 mechanical advantage.
8. (African-American Vernacular) A mode of personal motorized transportation; an automobile, all makes and models including motorcycles, excluding public transportation.
   • 2017, Stormzy, Return of the Rucksack

     Big whip I'm underground parking

9. (roller derby) A move in which one player transfers momentum to another.
10. A whipping motion; a thrashing about.

11. The quality of being whiplike or flexible; suppleness, as of the shaft of a golf club.
12. Any of various pieces that operate with a quick vibratory motion
    1. A spring in certain electrical devices for making a circuit
    2. (music) A wippen, a rocking component in certain piano actions.
13. (historical) A coach driver; a coachman.

Synonyms

• (last for directing animals): crop (especially for horses), dressage whip (especially for horses), driving whip (especially for horses), jumping bat (especially for horses), flail, knout, lash, quirt, scourge, sjambok (South African), thong
• (lash for corporal punishment): cat (nautical), flail, knout, lash, quirt, scourge, sjambok (South African), thong
• (political party enforcer): party whip

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

• whip snake

Translations

Verb

whip (third-person singular simple present whips, present participle whipping, simple past and past participle whipped)

1. (transitive) To hit with a whip.

2. (transitive, by extension) To hit with any flexible object.

3. (transitive, slang) To defeat, as in a contest or game.
4. (transitive) To mix in a rapid aerating fashion, especially food.

5. (transitive) To urge into action or obedience.

6. (transitive, politics) To enforce a member voting in accordance with party policy.
7. (transitive, nautical) To bind the end of a rope with twine or other small stuff to prevent its unlaying: fraying or unravelling.
   • 1677-1683, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick exercises

     Its string […] is firmly whipt about with small Gut

8. (transitive, nautical) To hoist or purchase by means of a whip.
9. To sew lightly; specifically, to form (a fabric) into gathers by loosely overcasting the rolled edge and drawing up the thread.

   • In half-whipped muslin needles useless lie.

10. (transitive) To throw or kick an object at a high velocity.
11. (transitive, intransitive) To fish a body of water especially by making repeated casts.
    • 1858, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Adirondac

      whipping its rough surface for a trout

12. (intransitive) To snap back and forth like a whip.

13. (intransitive) To move very fast.
    • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

      He looked up when I came in, gave a kind of cry, and whipped upstairs into the cabinet. It was but for one minute that I saw him, but the hair stood upon my head like quills.

14. (transitive) To move (something) very fast; often with up, out, etc.
    • 1742, Horace Walpole, letter to Sir Horace Mann

      He whips out his pocketbook every moment, and writes descriptions of everything he sees.

15. (transitive, roller derby) To transfer momentum from one skater to another.
16. (figuratively) To lash with sarcasm, abuse, etc.
17. To thrash; to beat out, as grain, by striking.

Synonyms

• (to hit with a whip): Thesaurus:whip
• (to move very fast): flail
• thrash
• thresh

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ghost ride the whip

References

• Samuel Johnson, John Walker, Robert S. Jameson: 1828. A dictionary of the English language 2nd edition. Publisher: William Pickering, 1828. 831 pages. Page 818. Google Public Domain Books : [2]

Further reading

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