Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
  • noun A petty thief or pickpocket.
  • noun A conceited dandy; a fop.
  • transitive verb To steal or pilfer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thief.
  • To filch or steal.
  • To cheapen; haggle about.
  • To plead hard; haggle.
  • To dress up; adorn; prink. Compare prick, 9.
  • noun A conceited, narrow-minded, pragmatical person; a dull, precise person.
  • noun A coxcomb; a dandy.
  • noun A small pitcher.
  • noun A small brass skillet.
  • To ride.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A pert, conceited, pragmatical fellow.
  • noun Cant A thief; a filcher.
  • transitive verb Scot. To cheapen.
  • transitive verb Cant To filch or steal.
  • intransitive verb Prov. Eng. & Scot. To haggle about the price of a commodity; to bargain hard.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Scotland To haggle or argue over price.
  • noun A person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
  • noun UK A petty thief or pickpocket
  • noun archaic A conceited dandy; a fop.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person regarded as arrogant and annoying

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Of unknown origin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Of unknown origin.

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Examples

  • Your true prig is always self-conscious, but Edward was not at all self-conscious.

    The Fire Within 1913

  • "And a plain prig my nephew Edward," continued the old gentleman.

    The Fire Within 1913

  • Lord E. 's "prig" -- see Jonathan Wild for the definition of

    The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 2 George Gordon Byron Byron 1806

  • He does not hesitate to make his champion a prig, which is exactly what a youth so idolised by his family would be likely to become.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, 1920-09-08 Various

  • "A prig is a handsome fellow born to create disturbance among the ladies."

    Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, November, 1878 of Popular Literature and Science Various

  • When, however, I thought over what she had said I was not so pleased, for I began to see that if the summer was to be splendid and I was not to be called a prig I must give up the idea of taking her to the

    Godfrey Marten, Undergraduate Charles Turley 1904

  • A prig is a tedious individual who, having made a discovery, is so impressed by his discovery that he is capable of being gravely displeased because the entire world is not also impressed by it.

    How to Live on 24 Hours a Day Arnold Bennett 1899

  • A prig is a pompous fool who has gone out for a ceremonial walk, and without knowing it has lost an important part of his attire, namely, his sense of humour.

    How to Live on 24 Hours a Day Arnold Bennett 1899

  • Now a prig is a pert fellow who gives himself airs of superior wisdom.

    How to Live on 24 Hours a Day Arnold Bennett 1899

  • That he was what we should nowadays call a prig we know, and also that he possessed his father's, Montalvo's, readiness of speech without his father's sense of humour.

    Lysbeth, a Tale of the Dutch Henry Rider Haggard 1890

Comments

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  • He is a young barrister, with more of the prig than the lawyer about him.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 7 ch. 13

    October 2, 2008

  • From p. 83 of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: "Angry as I was, as we all were, I was tempted to laugh whenever he opened his mouth. The transition from libertine to prig was so complete."

    September 29, 2012