▪ I. † prink, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
Pa. tense in 4 (? 5) preynte, preynkte, prengte, prent, prentede, prynkid; 9 dial. prenk'd, prinked.
[app. connected with OE. princ (or prince) a blink, a wink, a twinkle of the eye (Defensor Lib. Scint. ix. (1889) 43).]
1. intr. To wink, to give a wink.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 112 Þann conscience curteisliche a contenaunce he made, And preynte [v.rr. prentede, prynkid; 1393 C. xvi. 121 preynte, prengte] vpon Pacience to preie me to be stille. Ibid. xviii. 21 ‘Is Piers in þis place?’ quod I, and he preynte [v. rr. twynclid, prent; 1393 C. xxi. 19 preynkte] on me. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1238, & þan sche preynte with hure eȝe oppon hur chamberere þar sche stod. ? a 1800 in W. Walker Bards Bon-Accord (1887) 634 The dear, the lovely blinkin' o't [an eye]..plagues me wi' the prinkin' o't. 1873 St. Paul's Mag. Mar. 259 Professedly prudish..they..nod, osculate, prink, quiz. |
2. trans. to prink the eye: to wink.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 4507 With þat Richard preynte ys eȝe, Oppon ys feleschip þat was him neȝe. a 1900 in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., He never prinked his eyes for the night. 'Evvent prenk'd an eye far tha neight. |
¶The following are perh. incorrect uses, which may have arisen from confusing this with prink v.2 2 b.
| 1776 Anstey Election Ball i. 241 How she simpers and prinks while the glass is before her. 1841 C. H. Hartshorne Salopia Antiq. Gloss. 536 Prink, to look at, gaze upon, as a girl does at herself in a glass. |
▪ II. prink, v.2
(prɪŋk)
Also 6 princke.
[Known from c 1570; evidently related to prank v.4, in similar senses (occurring 1546): see Note below.]
† 1. trans. with up: (?) To set up, exalt; to display ostentatiously, show off. Obs.
| 1573 Twyne æneid xi. Hh iv b, Fortune whom she did disgrace Oft times agayne doth rayse and prinkes him up in prouder place. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 407 He so chaufeth and moyleth in sturryng the coales in princkyng upp the glory of this whotthouse. |
† b. intr. (?) To make ostentatious display; also to prink it. Obs.
| 1573 New Custom i. i. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 6 See how these new-fangled prattling elves Prink up so pertly of late in every place. 1576 Gascoigne Philomene xxi, To get more grace by crummes of cost And princke it out hir parte. 1600 J. Lane Tom Tel-troth 254 Some princk and pranck it. |
2. trans. To make spruce or smart; to deck or dress up with many petty adornments; esp. refl. to deck oneself out, dress oneself up. colloq.
| 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. Ep. Ded., Now I stand prinking me in the glasse. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1595) 1010 When he [Demetrius] was to make any preparation for warre, he had not then..his helmet perfumed, nor came not out of the Ladies closets, picked and princt to go to battell. 1600 Breton Pasquill's Mad-Cappe (1626) B j, Who hath not seene a logger headed Asse..Prinking himselfe before a Looking-glasse? 1705 tr. Bosman's Guinea 142 The Women prink up themselves in a particular manner. 1775 in F. Moore Songs & Ball. Amer. Rev. (1856) 100 All prinked up in full bag-wig. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 303 To gather king-cups in the yellow mead, And prink their hair with daisies. 1808 Southey Chron. Cid 246 Since midnight they had done nothing but prink and prank themselves. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Prenk, Prink, Pronk, to decorate, to dress in a showy, affected manner. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. i. ii. 8 Adorned and prinked with wondrous art, Yet so grotesque that all men start. |
| transf. 1876 Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 95 Nor, where flowers prink the mead with diverse hue. 1877 ― Wise Men 63 My Ctesibias, who not with gold And silver only prinks his princely hall. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy i, The flowers which have slept,..prink themselves again, and give forth a good smell. |
b. intr. (for refl.) To dress or deck oneself up, make oneself look smart. colloq.
| 1709 D'Urfey Pills (1719) I. 177, I hate a Fop that at his Glass Stands prinking half the Day. 1753 J. Collier Art Torment. i. ii. 59 She was every day longer prinking in the glass than you was. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. ii. (1865) 15 Ironing out crumpled paragraphs, starching limp ones, and crimping and plaiting a little; it is as natural as prinking at the looking-glass. 1898 Daily News 8 Aug. 5/4 The young man, after an appropriate time spent in his room, prinking, appears in all the glory of starch and perfumery. |
3. trans. Of a bird: To trim (the feathers); to preen. Also b. intr.
| 1575 Gascoigne Weeds, Farew. Mischief vi, But marke his plumes, The whiche to princke he dayes and nights consumes. 1820 Scott Monast. xxiv, Meantime he went on with his dalliance with his feathered favourite,..‘Ay, prune thy feathers, and prink thyself gay—much thou wilt make of it now’. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion i. i. 21 Yonder bird Prinks with deliberate bill his ruffled plumes. |
| b. 1877 Lanier Mocking Bird 11 This bird..perched, prinked, and to his art again. |
4. intr. To be pert or forward. dial.
| 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Prenk, Prink, Pronk, to be forward or pert. Ibid., Prenkin, pert, forward. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorks. Dial., She's a prenkin, forward, lass. |
Hence prinked (prɪŋkt) ppl. a., ˈprinking vbl. n.; also prink n., the act of prinking or making spruce; ˈprinker, one who dresses up with minute care. (All colloq.)
| 1579–80 North Plutarch (1676) 579 To apparel himself so sumptuously, and to be more fine and prinked then became a private man. 1699 Farquhar Constant Couple v. ii, I knew, sir, what your powdering, your prinking, Your dancing, and your frisking, would come to. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Prinkt up, set up on the Cupboards⁓head in their Best Cloaths, or in State. Stiff-starched. 1783 tr. Rollin's Belles Lettres (ed. 10) I. ii. 49 He compares this florid prinked eloquence to young people curled out and powdered. 1864 Webster, Prinker, one who prinks; one who dresses with much care. 1883 Howells Register ii, That just gives me time to do the necessary prinking. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 6 Aug. 3/1 Most..of the present Bench..have had a full-dress ‘prink’ in front of the large looking-glass..before venturing to make their first appearance in court. |
[Note. The late appearance of prank v.4 and prink v.2 makes it difficult to refer them to an ablaut stem prink, prank, prunk, or to suppose prink to represent an earlier pręnk, an umlaut deriv. of prank. It seems more likely that prink was formed from prank, with the thinner vowel sound, to express a more slight or petty action, or perhaps in the reduplicated formation prink-prank, prink and prank, as in clink-clank, crinkle-crankle, jingle-jangle, etc. It may have also been associated with or influenced by prick v. 20: cf. prinkle. There is no decisive evidence.]
▪ III. prink, v.3 dial.
[app. related to prank v.3]
? To walk jauntily or affectedly. Also, to walk daintily or with precise movements. Hence ˈprinking vbl. n.
| 1697 C. Leslie Snake in Grass (ed. 2) 41 Thou, and thy Godfather Fox can know a Saint from a Devil, without speaking, but not without a little Mincing and Prinking. 1803 M. Charlton Wife & Mistress II. 28 ‘Oh’, says she, mincing and prinking, ‘I find, Mrs. Maunder, that you have been so unlucky as to affront Boden’. 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss., Prink, to walk jauntily. 1962 M. Baldwin Death on Live Wire & On stepping from Sixth Storey Window 11 Uncle Cyclops Had one eye To bulge at ankles prinking past. 1962 J. Onslow Bowler-Hatted Cowboy xiii. 124 In the morning a doe with her twin fawns had passed us, stopping to nibble at the willow bushes as she prinked down the hill. |