Prig
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A deliberately superior person; a person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
"What spruce prig is that?"
- 2 a person regarded as arrogant and annoying wordnet
- 3 A conceited dandy; a fop. archaic
"A rap now at the door made all resound, / And in two bouncing blowings did rebound, / With two flash-men, a dandy, and a prig', / With whom they had been running of the rig."
- 4 A tinker. Ireland, UK, archaic
"These droncken Tynckers, called also Prygges."
- 5 A petty thief or pickpocket. Ireland, UK, archaic
"Out upon him! Prig, for my life, prig! He haunts / wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings."
- 1 To filch or steal. archaic, slang
"to prig a handkerchief"
- 2 To ride.
- 3 To copulate. obsolete
"Wapping thou I know does love, / Else the ruffin cly the mort; / From thy stampers then remove, / Thy drawers, and let's prig in sport."
Example
More examples"If you often think of yourself as a saint, you may simply be a prig."
Etymology
UK 16th century. Of unknown origin. Earlier noun senses ("tinker" and "thief"), as hyponyms of "undesirable person", may have informed later senses ("conceited person").