Prong
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A thin, pointed, projecting part, as of an antler or a fork or similar tool.
"a pitchfork with four prongs"
- 2 a pointed projection wordnet
- 3 A branch; a fork. figuratively, sometimes
"the two prongs of a river"
- 4 A fork (agricultural tool). Cornwall
"[…] a tradition is recorded that a man called 'Ralph' resided in this cavern for many years, and, with a prong as his weapon, successively kept the bailiffs at bay."
- 5 The penis. colloquial
"One look at that lifeguard's prong gave me a throbber like a baseball bat — not quite that big, of course, but at least that hard!"
- 1 To pierce or poke with, or as if with, a prong.
"He uncovered the fragrant eggs and b., and I pronged a moody forkful."
Example
More examples"A grounding-type plug has two blades and a third grounding prong."
Etymology
From Middle English pronge, perhaps from Middle Low German prange (“stick, restraining device”), from prangen (“to press, pinch”), from Old Saxon *prangan, from Proto-West Germanic *prangan, from Proto-Germanic *pranganą (“to press”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)preng- (“to wrap up, constrict”). Akin to Lithuanian spriñgti (“to choke, become choked or obstructed”), Latvian sprañgât (“cord, constrict”), Ancient Greek σπαργανόω (sparganóō, “to swaddle”), σπάργανον (spárganon, “swaddling cloth”). See also prank, prance, prink.
Related phrases
More for "prong"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.