prink

English[edit]

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.

prink (third-person singular simple present prinks, present participle prinking, simple past and past participle prinked)

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.

prink (plural prinks)

The act of adjusting one's dress or appearance; the act of sprucing oneself up.
- 1868, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 3, in Little Women‎^[1], volume 1, Boston: Roberts Brothers, page 43:
  “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.

prink (third-person singular simple present prinks, present participle prinking, simple past and past participle prinked)

To look, gaze.
To dress finely, primp, preen, spruce up.
- 1676, Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso‎^[2], London: Henry Herringman, act I, page 12:
  […] by the Mass: You’ll make excellent Wives, Cuckold your Husbands immoderately: You mind nothing but prinking your selves up.
- 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
  She put it on, then floated round the room prinking things — the flowers, the ashtrays, Jack's whisky tray — making everything outside herself perfect because nothing inside herself was perfect in the least.
To strut, put on pompous airs, be pretentious.

prink (third-person singular simple present prinks, present participle prinking, simple past and past participle prinked)