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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Prik(k)at, Pric(c)at, Prik(k)et(t, n. Also: prick-, pryk-, pryc(k)- and -att, -it; prickcat, prikcett; preckatt, prekkett, (proket). [ME and e.m.E. priket(te, pryket(t, pricket(te, prikkett, also prekete etc. (Prekat n.), (1) ‘a buck in its second year, having straight, unbranched horns’ (c 1440) also med. (Anglo-)L. prikettus (13th c.), (2) a spike on which to stick a candle (c 1420) (not found in Older Sc.), (3) sense 2 below (a 1331), appar. f. Prik n.]

1. ? A buck in its second year: see etym. note above. Only in a place-name in Annandale. 1459 Exch. R. VI 551.
De firmis … alterius acre juxta Northfelde dicte Prikkatacre Ib. 554.
Et eidem, pro vasta acre Prikkatis 1460 Ib. 618.
Et pro vasta de Prykatisakyr

b. ? id. transf. in prikketis eris, a type of small candelabrum. 1505 Glasgow Dioc. Reg. II 114.
Duo magna candelabra, et duo parua le prikketis eris

2. A (? smaller) type of candle.? Latterly only Sc. in this sense.(a) 1492 Treas. Acc. I 200.
For torchis and prycatis iij li. iiij s. 1498–9 Acta Conc. II 297.
Anent … twa chandillaris on the alter, with twa pricatis 1499 Exch. R. XI 232.
Ac pro cera, thedis, prikatis 1508 Aberd. B. Rec. I xxi.
iiii pece wax, … maid in torchis and pricatis 1509 Edinb. Hammermen 67.
For iiij pricatis to the torches hedis 1518 Perth Hammermen 5.
Priccats 1525 Household Bks. Jas. V 71.
iiij libre prikattis, iiij libre rowis, price libre iij s. vj d. Ib. 77.
Item empt … .vj libre prickattis in candelis Dominis et Dominabus 1529 Linlithgow B. Ct. 8 Nov.
The said … factour sall licht twa far sergis with prikattis onne the hedis of thaim 1539 Glasgow Prot. IV 118.
The said maister to uphald … ane pryckat of wax nychtlie byrneand … in middis of the sammyng altar 1541 Linlithgow B. Ct. 20 Dec.
That thar be lychttit twa prikcettis ilk haly day apone the said alter in tyme of hie mes 1546 Edinb. Hammermen 170.
For ane pund of priccattis at Witsoneday, iiij s. 1551 Treas. Acc. X 22.
To … Tod, walxmakker, for xij dosane of torcheis and x dosane of prikkettis making 1565 Edinb. B. Rec. III 210.
Prikettis 1572-5 Diurn. Occurr. 103.
All the barronis and gentilmen bure priccattis of waix 1582 Edinb. D. Guild Acc. 125.
Ane quarter pound prikett of wax to sait beffoir the prowest in the kirk, ij s. vj d. 1593 Ib. 500.
For tynnyng of the flouris that haldis the prikettis in the kirk 1597 Household Bks. Jas. VI and Anne 6 Jan.
Fywe prickatis Ib. 1 Feb.
Sax prickcatis(b) 1539 Glasgow Prot. IV 119.
Twa wax preckattis byrneand … abvne the lair of Jhonn Painter(c) a1639 Spotsw. Hist. (1677) 197.
Two ranks of barons and gentlemen … holding every one a proket of wax in their hands

3. A spire or a pinnacle. = Prik n. 3. This sense only Sc.(a) 1571–2 E. Loth. Antiq. Soc. VII 66.
The prikit on the … bellhous 1589 Dunferm. Hammermen 10.
The cok putt upon the prickit on the stiple-head 1596 Dundee B. Laws 145.
To cause edifie … ane steiple and pricket of aistler wark wpon the east newk … of the new tolbuith 1616–17 Ayr Common Good Acc.
[For] making of the cok vpoun the prickat of the tolbuyth, xx merkis Ib.
For sklating of the pricket of the tolbuyth … iij li. 1619 Garden Elphinstoun 2112.
The brige … With ports and prickets four 1629 Aberd. B. Rec. III 25.
Pryckit Ib. 24. c1650 Spalding I 127.
Johne Porter, wricht, rackleslie fell af of ane scaffold set for the pricketis of Maucher kirk Urquhart Jewel 196.
Erecting of prickets, barbicans and such like various structures 1654–6 Rec. Univ. Aberd. 602. 1684 Edinb. B. Rec. XI 114.
To the putting up of ane pricket of stone work of verrie handsome figures upon the tope of the grayfrier steiple and upon the tope of Herreots work steiple 1688 Inverness Rec. II 356.(b) 1534–5 M. Works Acc. (ed.) I 128.
For the paynttyne of … all the prekkettis that the thanis standis on