pinprick

See also: pin-prick

English

Alternative forms

• pin-prick

Etymology

pin +‎ prick

Noun

pinprick (plural pinpricks)

1. An insignificant puncture made by a pin or similar point.
2. A mildly annoying wound or damage.
3. A very tiny dot.

   The stars were pinpricks of light in a clear night sky.

Translations

an insignificant puncture made by a pin or similar point

• Bulgarian: леко убождане n (leko uboždane)
• German: Nadelstich (de) m
• Russian: прокол (ru) m (prokol)

a mildly annoying wound or damage

• Bulgarian: дребна неприятност f (drebna neprijatnost)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: speldenprik (nl) m
• German: Nadelstich (de) m
• Greek: βελονιά (el) f (veloniá)
• Hungarian: tűszúrás (hu)
• Spanish: pinchazo m, piquete (es) m

Verb

pinprick (third-person singular simple present pinpricks, present participle pinpricking, simple past and past participle pinpricked)

1. (transitive) To produce a jabbing sensation, like a pinprick, in.

   The water pinpricked her face as she stepped into the shower.

2. (transitive) To puncture with a tiny hole or holes.
   • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 144:

     By now it was dark, velvety dark with a moon, a darkness pinpricked by the lights from the landing place now drawing rapidly closer.

   • 2017, Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 164:

     He had always had to repress the urge to pinprick her enthusiasms.