pricklouse

It can be vividly concentrated into a single word, as when, for instance, the chronicler of _The Ten Pleasures of Marriage_ revives the opprobrious term for a tailor -- "pricklouse": the whole history of the English woollen industry and of the stuffy Tudor and Stuart domestic architecture is in the nickname.

The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and the Second Part, The Confession of the New Married Couple A. Marsh

Ask the neighbours when you come home, and you will quickly hear, that by them was no thought of care or sorrow; but that they have plaied, ranted and domineer'd so that the whole neighbourhood rung with it; and how they have played their parts either with some dried Baker, pricklouse

The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and the Second Part, The Confession of the New Married Couple A. Marsh

Kelly attaches a meaningless remark to this proverb -- "An answer of a tailor to him that calls him pricklouse."

The Proverbs of Scotland Alexander Hislop 1836

I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse, which vexed me

Quotations from Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1668

I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse, which vexed me

Quotations from Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1668

I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse, which vexed me

Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete Samuel Pepys 1668

I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse, which vexed me

Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete Samuel Pepys 1668

I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse, which vexed me

Quotations from Diary of Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys 1668

So up and to my office (being come to some angry words with my wife about neglecting the keeping of the house clean, I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse, which vexed me) and there all the morning.

Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete Samuel Pepys 1668

I calling her beggar, and she me pricklouse, which vexed me

Images from Pepy's Diaries Samuel Pepys 1668