prick-eared, a.
(ˈprɪkˌɪəd)
[app. f. prick n. (branch V) + eared: see Note below.]
1. a. Having erect ears: spec. of dogs. Also, of corn or wheat.
| c 1420 ? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 328 And at hys feete lay a prykeryd curre. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §77 The .ix. propertyes of a foxe. The fyrste is: to be prycke eared, the seconde to be lytell eared. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 44 Pish for thee, Island dogge: thou prickeard cur of Island. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 285 By this..you may make any lave-ear'd Horse, to be as prick-ear'd and comely, as any other Horse whatsoever. 1637 G. Daniel Genius Isle 23 Here the ffawnes And prick-ear'd Satires shall your Groves frequent. a 1873 S. Wilberforce Ess. (1874) I. 45 Any prick-eared tree-inhabiting monkey. 1877 G. Stables Pract. Kennel Guide (ed. 3) vii. §3. 81 Dogs both prick-eared and drooping are often found in the same litter. 1922 Blunden Shepherd 81 From the young corn the prick-eared leverets stare At strangers come to spy the land. 1940 C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Georgics i. 25 The dangers of showery spring, When the prick-eared harvest already bristles along the plains. 1946 L. B. Lyon Rough Walk Home 11 Prick-eared, he lurks To leeward, patiently bold. |
† b. Applied opprobriously (with pun) to prick-song. Obs.
| 1519 Interl. Four Elem. (Percy Soc.) 50 For me thynkyth it servyth for no thyng, All suche pevysh prykyeryd song! Pes, man, pryksong may not be dispysyd. |
c. fig. Having the ears pricked or erected in attention; hence, attentive, alert.
| 1550 Bale Apol. 141 b, These prycke eared prynces myghte truste those vowers, as hawkes made to theyr handes. 1608 Middleton Mad World iii. ii. 181 Jealousy is prick-eared, and will hear the wagging of a hair. 1682 H. More Annot. Glanvill's Lux O. 184 The prick-eared Acuteness of that trim and smug saying. 1897 S. S. Sprigge T. Wakley I. 500 A prick-eared public official. |
2. Of a man: Having the hair cut short and close, so that the ears are prominent; a nickname applied in the 17th century to the Puritans or ‘Roundheads’; whence opprobriously, priggish.
| 1641 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 482 The said Captain Hide said,..that they were a company of prick eared and cropt eared Rascals, and that he would believe a Papist before a Puritan. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Prickear'd Fellow, a Crop, whose Ears are longer than his Hair. 1707 Hearne Collect. 21 Nov. (O.H.S.) II. 74 These Prickear'd, starch, sanctify'd Fellows. 1752 Foote Taste ii. Wks. 1799 I. 21, I adore the simplicity of the antients! How unlike the present, priggish, prick ear'd puppets! 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. xvi, Fred Vincy had called Lydgate a prig, and now Mr. Chicheley was inclined to call him prick-eared. |
[Note. Of prick-eared, prick adj., prick-ear(s, pricked or prickt ear(s, to prick the ears, the first is much the earliest, and is app. to be compared with such formations as block-headed, bow-legged, club-footed, club-shaped, and the like, in which the first element is a n., the sense being ‘eared (i.e. having ears) like pricks’, in some early sense of prick n., e.g. 12, 13, or 14. Of the other expressions, prick ear(s is prob. a back formation from prick-eared, on the analogy of club foot, club-footed, and the like, and pricked ears, to prick the ears derived from it.]