Meaning of Pique | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Enmity, ill feeling; (countable) a feeling of animosity or a dispute.
   uncountable
2. In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
3. A chigger, chigoe, or jigger (Tunga penetrans), a species of tropical flea.
   obsolete
4. Synonym of pica (“a disorder characterized by appetite and craving for non-edible substances”).
   obsolete, rare
5. A kind of corded or ribbed fabric made from cotton, rayon, or silk.
   countable, uncountable
6. Irritation or resentment awakened by a social injury or slight; offence, especially taken in an emotional sense with little consideration or thought; (countable) especially in fit of pique: a transient feeling of wounded pride.
   uncountable
7. midgie, sand fly, punkie, punky (US)
8. A movement in which the raised, pointed foot of the working leg is lowered so that it pricks the floor and then either rebounds upward or becomes a supporting foot.
   countable
9. In pique of honour: a matter, a point.
   countable, obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“Men take up piques and diſpleaſures at others, and then every opinion of the diſliked perſon muſt partake of his fate, and be engaged in the quarrel: […]”

“[H]e ſhew'd himself, out of ſome little pique, the moſt bitter enemy againſt the K[ing, i.e., Charles I of England] in all the Houſe [of Parliament], as well in action as ſpeech; […]”

“This dog and man at firſt were friends; / But when a pique began, / The dog, to gain his private ends, / Went mad and bit the man.”

“Not so Madame de Soissons, who at once divined his intentions and watched his progress, internally resolving to render him every ill office pique could suggest, or ridicule execute.”

“[L]ong, costly, and bloody wars had arisen upon a point of ceremony, upon a personal pique, upon a hasty word, upon some explosion of momentary caprice; […]”

“[T]here occurred one of the little skirmishes which it is almost impossible to avoid, when some five-and-twenty women, old and young, with all their private piques and prejudices, try to work together.”

“Tuſh! tuſh! you take the grave peake uppon you too much: who would think you could ſo eaſily ſhake off your olde friendes?”

“Pray, my Lord, take no picque at it: 'tis not given to all men to be confident: […]”

“"'Tis because you are an indifferent person," said Lucy, with some pique, and laying a particular stress on those words, "that your judgment must justly have such weight with me.["]”

“"At all events," replied Francesca, "it could not be better bestowed, than as an offering, however unworthy, for his sake who is nearest and dearest to me in the world." / "I thank you for the implied compliment," returned Evelyn, in a tone of pique.”

“You think this is a personal thing with me? Are you telling me I think of this in terms of a personal pique?”

“This defiance was not a fit of pique, but a matter of principle. He [Mandela's father] was asserting his traditional prerogative as a chief and was challenging the authority of the magistrate.”

“[Jürgen] Klopp’s team had the better balance between attack and defence and, crucially, they got lucky with the disallowed goal that brought [Pep] Guardiola to the point of spontaneous combustion at half-time. Guardiola’s fit of pique led to his banishment from the dugout and City will wonder what might have happened if they had taken a 2–0 lead into the second half.”

“Add long preſcription of eſtabliſh'd laws, / And picque of honour to maintain a cauſe, / And ſhame of change, and fear of future ill, / And Zeal, the blind conductor of the will; […]”

“Flip[panta]. Hark thee, Braſs, the Game's in our hands, if we can but play the Cards. / Br[ass]. Pique and Repique, you Jade you: If the Wives will fall into a good Intelligence.”

“Pique and linen also accented several coats and oftentimes were both detachable and formed an overcollar covering a collar made from the coat fabric.”

“The World is nat'rally averse / To all the truth it sees or hears, / But swallows Non-sense and a Lie / With greediness and gluttony; / And though it have the Pique, and long, / 'Tis still for something in the wrong: […]”

“I found three piqué shirts, each a shade lighter than the one before it, and each so fine and closely woven it shone like satin.”

CEFR level