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prink

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prink¹

  • /ˈpɹɪŋk/
  • [ˈpʰɹʷɪŋk]
  • /ˈpɹiŋk/
  • [ˈpʰɹʷiŋk] ~ [ˈpʰɹʷɪ̝ŋk]

Rhymes with -ɪŋk

Where it comes from

From Middle English prinken (“to wink, signal with the eye”), from prinke, prinche (“a wink, twinkling of the eye, momentary gesture”), from Old English princ (“a wink”). More at pry.

verb prinks · prinking · prinked

  1. dialectal, obsolete to give a wink; to wink.

prink²

  • /ˈpɹɪŋk/
  • [ˈpʰɹʷɪŋk]
  • /ˈpɹiŋk/
  • [ˈpʰɹʷiŋk] ~ [ˈpʰɹʷɪ̝ŋk]

Rhymes with -ɪŋk

Where it comes from

Perhaps alteration (due to primp) of prank (“to deck, adorn”), from Middle English pranken (“to trim”), or from Middle Dutch prinken (“to deck for show, parade in fine apparel”) (from pronk (“show, display”) or from Middle Low German prunken (from prank (“display”)).

Cognate with Middle Dutch pronken (“to flaunt”), German Prunk (“a show, parade, splendour”), Danish and Swedish prunk.

noun prinks

  1. The act of adjusting one's dress or appearance; the act of sprucing oneself up. “Is my sash right; and does my hair look very bad?” said Meg, as she turned from the glass in Mrs. Gardiner’s dressing-room, after a prolonged prink.

verb prinks · prinking · prinked

  1. To look, gaze.
  2. To dress finely, primp, preen, spruce up. […] by the Mass: You’ll make excellent Wives, Cuckold your Husbands immoderately: You mind nothing but prinking your selves up.
  3. To strut, put on pompous airs, be pretentious.
  4. To improve; to make stylish. The gardens were spruced and the fountains played again and the two main hotels, the Splendide and the Hermitage, were prinked and furbished and restaffed.

Similar: prank

prink³

  • /ˈpɹɪŋk/
  • [ˈpʰɹʷɪŋk]
  • /ˈpɹiŋk/
  • [ˈpʰɹʷiŋk] ~ [ˈpʰɹʷɪ̝ŋk]

Rhymes with -ɪŋk

Where it comes from

Contraction of pre-drink.

verb prinks · prinking · prinked

  1. UK, humorous To pre-drink.

Thesaurus

verb

Similar: prank

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MLA

"prink." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/prink. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

prink. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/prink

Chicago

"prink." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/prink.

BibTeX
@misc{prink_2026,
  title = {prink},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/prink},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}