pique
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: pēk
ipa: /piːk/
ipa: /pik/
homophone: peak
homophone: peek
homophone: peke
rhymes: -iːk
Forms: form: piques
form: piquing
form: piqued
form: piqued
Etymology: The verb is borrowed from French piquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry; to provoke, stimulate; (reflexive) to boast about”), from Middle French piquer, picquer (“to prick, sting; to anger, annoy; (reflexive) to get angry”), from Old French piquer (“to pierce with the tip of a sword”), from proto-Romance or Vulgar Latin *pīccare (“to sting; to strike”) or *pikkāre, and then either:
* Onomatopoeic; or
* from Frankish *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to knock; to peck; to pick; to prick”). If so, pique is a doublet of pick, pitch, and peck.
The noun is borrowed from Middle French pique (“a quarrel; resentment”) (modern French pique), from piquer, picquer (verb); see above.
Senses: examples: text: The Dev'l was piqu'd, ſuch ſaintſhip to behold, / And long'd to tempt him like good Job of old: / But Satan novv is vviſer than of yore, / And tempts by making rich, not making poor.
ref: 1733 (indicated as 1732), [Alexander] Pope, Of the Use of Riches, an Epistle to the Right Honourable Allen Lord Bathurst, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 18:
text: Brisk Confidence still best with woman copes; / Pique her and soothe in turn, soon Passion crowns thy hopes.
ref: 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXIII, page 77:
text: His chusing to walk with her, she had learnt to understand. It was done to pique Miss Brereton.
ref: 1817 (date written), Jane Austen, chapter 7, in R[aymond] W[ilson] Chambers, editor, Fragment of a Novel Written by Jane Austen, January–March 1817 […] [Sanditon], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1925, →OCLC, page 93:
english: Sanditon
translation: Sanditon
text: She treated him indulgently, as if he were a child. He thought he did not mind. But deep below the surface it piqued him.
ref: 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “The Test on Miriam”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC, part II, page 292:
synonyms: word: fret
word: nettle
word: sting
word: aggravate
word: annoy
word: rankle
word: ruffle
word: sting
word: antagonize
word: bother
word: disgruntle
word: botherate
word: bug
word: get
word: grate
word: burn up
word: bedevil
word: cheese off
word: devil
word: exasperate
word: frustrate
word: get up
word: grotch
word: hack off
word: hassle
word: irk
word: irritate
word: jazz
word: molest
word: mommick
word: nark
word: nerve
word: pee off
word: peeve
word: persecute
word: pique
word: piss off
word: provoke
word: rile
word: rile up
word: roil
word: storm
word: test someone's patience
word: tick off
word: trouble
word: try one's patience
word: vex
word: wind up
word: Idioms:
word: boil someone's piss
word: chap someone's hide
word: get on someone's nerves
word: get on someone's tits
word: get on someone's wick
word: get someone's back up
word: get someone's dander up
word: get someone's goat
word: get someone's Irish up
word: get someone's nanny
word: get someone's nanny-goat
word: get under one's goat
word: get under someone's skin
word: give someone the shits
word: grind one's gears
word: harsh one's mellow
word: put someone's back up
word: raise someone's hackles
word: rub someone the wrong way
word: rub up the wrong way
word: ruffle someone's feathers
word: tee off
word: torque off
glosses: To wound the pride of (someone); to excite to anger; to irritate, to offend.
examples: text: I believe this will pique your interest.
text: I have been hugely involved in the operational side until this point, but now I can speak to operators and other businesses such as American and European companies, because we seem to have piqued interest.
ref: 2020 January 2, Richard Clinnick, “After Some Alarms, Sleeper Awakens”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 47:
synonyms: excite
stimulate
glosses: To excite (someone) to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate (an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest).
examples: text: [G]ood Nature may be ſetled in them [children] into a Habit, and they may take pleaſure and pique themſelves in being kind, liberal, and civil to others.
ref: 1693, [John Locke], “§105”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 123:
text: The American hunters pique themselves on their skill in shooting Racoons; which, from the extraordinary vigilance and cunning of the animals, is by no means an easy task.
ref: 1850, [Jane] Loudon, “The Racoon. (Procyon, or Ursus lotor.)”, in The Entertaining Naturalist: […], new edition, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, […], →OCLC, page 43:
text: She piqued herself on writing a hand in which each letter was distinguishable without any large range of conjecture, and she meant to make much use of this accomplishment, to save Mr. Casaubon’s eyes.
ref: 1871, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter V, in Middlemarch […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 70:
glosses: To pride (oneself) on something.
glosses: To excite or stimulate (oneself).
glosses: To take pride in.
examples: text: Piqu'd by Protogenes's Fame, / From Co to Rhodes, Apelles came; / To ſee a Rival and a Friend, / Prepar'd to Cenſure, or Commend, […]
ref: 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Protogenes and Apelles”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 292:
glosses: To excite to action, especially by causing jealousy, resentment, etc.; also, to stimulate an emotion or feeling, especially curiosity or interest.
examples: text: For I obſerve, that all vvomen of your condition are like the vvomen of the Play-houſe, ſtill Piquing at each other, vvho ſhall go the beſt Dreſt, and in the Richeſt Habits: till you vvork up one another by your high flying, as the Heron and Jerfalcon do.
ref: 1668 June 22 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), John Dryden, An Evening’s Love, or The Mock-Astrologer. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1671, →OCLC, Act IV, page 53:
glosses: To express jealousy, resentment, etc. at someone; to become angry or annoyed.