Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Prink

Prink \PRINGK\ , transitive verb;
1. To dress up; to deck for show
intransitive verb;
1. To dress or arrange oneself for show; to primp
2. To wink, give a wink, or blink
noun;
1. A person who takes great care over his or her appearance
2. An act of adjusting the appearance or making smart; a prinking

The Oxford English Dictionary says this word dates to around 1330 and is probably a variation of prank ("to dress in a bright, or ostentatious manner"). But, that seems problematic since no version of prank is attested before 1440. There's another prink that is a noun meaning "a blink or twinkling of the eye; a moment, an instant." It originated in Old English and it probably a variant of prick. Prick does appear to be an older word than prink because several Germanic languages have cognates or words of similar in form. How exactly a word meaning "to poke holes" turned into prink is open to interpretation, but there may have been some influence from pink or primp along the way.

Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Tuesday, May 24
Etymologies come from the Oxford English Dictionary and/or Etymonline.com 

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