"prig" Definition

Definitions for the word "prig" from multiple English dictionaries.

1. n.
Self-righteous or moralistic person. priggish adj. Priggishness n. [origin unknown]
Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 1884
2. slang
a thief. Used by Addison in the sense of a coxcomb.—_Ancient Cant_, probably from the _Saxon_, PRICC-AN, to filch, &c.—_Shakspeare._ PRIG, to steal or rob. PRIGGING, thieving. In Scotland the term PRIG is used in a different sense from what it is in England. In Glasgow, or at Aberdeen, “to PRIG a salmon” would be to cheapen it, or seek for an abatement in the price. A story is told of two Scotchmen, visitors to London, who got into sad trouble a few years ago by announcing their intention of “PRIGGING a hat” which they had espied in a fashionable manufacturer’s window, and which one of them thought he would like to possess.
Source: The Slang Dictionary, 1864
3. slang
a conceited, stuck-up, over-knowing person; one who appropriates or adopts a manner or costume not suited to him.
Source: The Slang Dictionary, 1864

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