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.
Prigging, vbl. n. Also: priging. Haggling. Also in fig. contexts.1591 Reg. Morton I 176.
Thai vill offer bot four markis for meill and beir for na prigging that Jhone Douglas and I can mak 1632 Rutherford Lett. (1891) 73.
The frank buyer, who cometh near to what the seller seeketh … cutteth off the course of mutual prigging 1669 Great Salvation in A. Gray Mystery of Faith (new ed.) 173 (OED s.v. Prigging n.).
Take it and have it, and there shall be no more priging a1658 Durham Commandments (1675) 251.
There would be ingenuity in buying and selling, that which we call prigging or cheapening, is not good Id. Scandal (1740) 299. 1663–9 J. Livingstone Sel. Biog. I 175.
It seemed rather like ane merchant's bargain of prigging somewhat higher or lower than ingenuous dealing 1687 Shields Hind Let Loose 568.
All these debatings … are but … beguiling compoundings in, and pitiful priggings for, a base compliance 1685-8 Renwick Serm. 145, 455.