prink

English

Etymology 1

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

Verb

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

1. (obsolete or dialectal) to give a wink; to wink.

Etymology 2

Perhaps alteration (due to primp) of prank (“to deck, adorn”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English pranken (“to trim”), or from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle Dutch prinken (“to deck for show, parade in fine apparel”). Cognate with (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Dutch pronken (“to flaunt”), German Prunk (“a show, parade, splendour”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Danish and (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Swedish prunk.

Noun

prink (plural prinks)

1. the act of adjusting dress or appearance; a sprucing up
   • 2006, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:

     [...] 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

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

1. To look, gaze.
2. To dress finely, primp, preen, spruce up.
   • 1676, Thomas Shadwell, The Virtuoso, London: Henry Herringman, Act I, p. 12,^[1]

     […] 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.

3. To strut, put on pompous airs, be pretentious.

Synonyms

• prank