To gripe means ‘to complain constantly about something’ and, in US English, also ‘to annoy or irritate.’ As a noun, a gripe is an annoyance or complaint. Gripes, usually in the plural, is…
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To prick is ‘to pierce or make a puncture,’ with something sharp and tiny, like a needle, and also ‘to cause to feel a sharp pain, as from piercing.’ Figuratively, we use it to talk about mental pain as well. A prick is a small puncture made by a needle or something similar, the sharp pain felt when pricking, and also the act of pricking itself. Vulgarly, a prick is a penis and, informally, we call a nasty…
