n. [ AS. pricele, pricle; akin to LG. prickel, D. prikkel. See Prick, n. ] 1. A little prick; a small, sharp point; a fine, sharp process or projection, as from the skin of an animal, the bark of a plant, etc.; a spine. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A kind of willow basket; -- a term still used in some branches of trade. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A sieve of filberts, -- about fifty pounds. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To prick slightly, as with prickles, or fine, sharp points. [ 1913 Webster ]

Felt a horror over me creep,
Prickle skin, and catch my breath. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. (Zool.) The stickleback. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Prickly. ] The quality of being prickly, or of having many prickles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Prickly. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tailor; -- so called in contempt. [ Old slang ] L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of sharp points or prickles; armed or covered with prickles; as, a prickly shrub. [ 1913 Webster ]

Prickly heat (Med.), a noncontagious cutaneous eruption of red pimples, attended with intense itching and tingling of the parts affected. It is due to inflammation of the sweat glands, and is often brought on by overheating the skin in hot weather. --
Prickly pear (Bot.), a name given to several plants of the cactaceous genus Opuntia, American plants consisting of fleshy, leafless, usually flattened, and often prickly joints inserted upon each other. The sessile flowers have many petals and numerous stamens. The edible fruit is a large pear-shaped berry containing many flattish seeds. The common species of the Northern Atlantic States is Opuntia vulgaris. In the South and West are many others, and in tropical America more than a hundred more. Opuntia vulgaris, Opuntia Ficus-Indica, and Opuntia Tuna are abundantly introduced in the Mediterranean region, and Opuntia Dillenii has become common in India. --
Prickly pole (Bot.), a West Indian palm (Bactris Plumierana), the slender trunk of which bears many rings of long black prickles. --
Prickly withe (Bot.), a West Indian cactaceous plant (Cereus triangularis) having prickly, slender, climbing, triangular stems. --
Prickly rat (Zool.), any one of several species of South American burrowing rodents belonging to Ctenomys and allied genera. The hair is usually intermingled with sharp spines. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Bot.), 1. A prickly shrub (Xanthoxylum Americanum) with yellowish flowers appearing with the leaves; also called toothache tree. All parts of the plant are pungent and aromatic. The southern species is Xanthoxylum Carolinianum. Gray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.), Hercules'-club, also called the Angelica tree. [ PJC ]