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prurient, a. (and n.)|ˈprʊərɪənt|
[ad. L. prūriens, -entem, pres. pple. of prūrīre to itch, long, be wanton. Cf. obs. F. pruriant (1598 in Godef.).]
1. That itches physically, itching. rare.
1639[‘I find the word in use in 1639, but in a passage not worth citing’ (Todd 1818)]. 1648Herrick Hesper., To Detractor, Some numbers prurient are, and some of these Are wanton with their itch; scratch, and 'twil please. 1832Tennyson Pal. Art 201 In filthy sloughs they [swine] roll a prurient skin, They graze and wallow.
2. fig. Having an itching desire or curiosity, or an uneasy or morbid craving. rare.
1653Gauden Hierasp. Pref. 14 Politick affectations of piety, which grow as scurfe or scabs, over those prurient novelties of opinion. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. ii. i. ii. §1. 212 Upon which fiery and prurient itch after the knowledge of Futurities Providence has cast this bridle. 1850Kingsley Alt. Locke xiv, The reading public..in its usual prurient longing after anything like personal gossip. 1859Tennyson Vivien 485.
3. Given to the indulgence of lewd ideas; impure-minded; characterized by lasciviousness of thought or mind. Also absol. or as n.
1746Smollett Reproof 176 Debauch'd from sense, let doubtful meanings run, The vague conundrum, and the prurient pun. 1774Warton Hist. Eng. Poetry lxv. (1840) III. 451 Marston..gratifies the depravations of a prurient curiosity. 1836Johnsoniana i. 37 Solitude is the surest nurse of all prurient passions. 1874L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) II. vi. 202 His morality is..far superior to the prurient sentimentalism of Sterne. 1911G. B. Shaw Blanco Posnet 334 The farcical comedy which has scandalized the critics in London..is played to the respectable dress circle of Northampton with these same jests slurred over so as to be imperceptible by even the most prurient spectator. 1969Punch 29 Jan. 159/1 We've had the prudes and the prurients, the ‘Love-Outs’ and the love-ins, sex without marriage and marriage without sex. 1974C. Ricks Keats & Embarrassment i. 15 The prurient is characterized by a particular attitude..of cherishing, fondling or slyly watching.
4. Unduly forward or excessive in growth.
1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 60 The teeth [are sometimes]..buried..by a prurient growth of the substance of their own gums. 1844N. Paterson Manse Gard. ii. 192 By pinching off the prurient bud, good keeping bulbs may be secured. 1850R. Simpson Mem. Worth v. 71 To prune the prurient branches of some promising fir.
5. Bot. Applied to plants which cause an itching or slightly stinging sensation. rare.
1858in Mayne Expos. Lex. 1887Nicholson's Dict. Gard., Prurient, stinging; causing an itching sensation. 1895Syd. Soc. Lex., Prurient, see Pruriens. Pruriens,..applied to certain plants or parts of plants furnished with hairs, because these are readily driven into the skin and then detached, causing considerable itching.
6. Comb., as prurient-minded adj.
1899Kipling Stalky iii. 91 But about those three [boys]. Are they so prurient-minded? |