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Pique   /pik/   Listen
noun
Pique  n.  A cotton fabric, figured in the loom, used as a dress goods for women and children, and for vestings, etc.



Pique  n.  (Zool.) The jigger. See Jigger.



Pique  n.  
1.
A feeling of hurt, vexation, or resentment, awakened by a social slight or injury; irritation of the feelings, as through wounded pride; stinging vexation. "Men take up piques and displeasures." "Wars had arisen... upon a personal pique."
2.
Keenly felt desire; a longing. "Though it have the pique, and long, 'Tis still for something in the wrong."
3.
(Card Playing) In piquet, the right of the elder hand to count thirty in hand, or to play before the adversary counts one.
Synonyms: Displeasure; irritation; grudge; spite. Pique, Spite, Grudge. Pique denotes a quick and often transient sense of resentment for some supposed neglect or injury, but it is not marked by malevolence. Spite is a stronger term, denoting settled ill will or malice, with a desire to injure, as the result of extreme irritation. Grudge goes still further, denoting cherished and secret enmity, with an unforgiving spirit. A pique is usually of recent date; a grudge is that which has long subsisted; spite implies a disposition to cross or vex others.



verb
Pique  v. t.  (past & past part. piqued; pres. part. piquing)  
1.
To wound the pride of; to sting; to nettle; to irritate; to fret; to offend; to excite to anger. "Pique her, and soothe in turn."
2.
To excite to action by causing resentment or jealousy; to stimulate; to prick; as, to pique ambition, or curiosity.
3.
To pride or value; used reflexively. "Men... pique themselves upon their skill."
Synonyms: To offend; displease; irritate; provoke; fret; nettle; sting; goad; stimulate.



Pique  v. i.  To cause annoyance or irritation. "Every verse hath something in it that piques."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Pique" Quotes from Famous Books



... stood in her own mind as the only amends she could offer him for having married him without love. It was her father who made the match; and Amelia had succumbed, not through the obedience claimed by parents of an elder day, but from hot jealousy and the pique inevitably born of it. Laurie Morse had kept the singing-school that winter. He had loved Amelia; he had bound himself to her by all the most holy vows sworn from aforetime, and then, in some wanton exhibit of power—gone home with another girl. And for Amelia's responsive ...
— Tiverton Tales • Alice Brown

... her spite against you, Henry. You told her to decline Richard Raby, and so she declined him. Spite, indeed! The gentle pique of a lovely, good girl, who knows her value, though she is too modest to show it openly. Well, Henry, you have lost her a husband, and she has given you one more proof of affection. Don't build the mountain of ingratitude any higher: do pray take the cure that offers, and make ...
— Put Yourself in His Place • Charles Reade

... was very much astonished to learn the result of an interview between Hugh and yourself; I can scarcely believe that you were in earnest, and feel disposed to attribute your foolish words to some trifling motive of girlish coquetry or momentary pique. You have long been perfectly well aware that you and your cousin were destined for each other; that I solemnly promised the marriage should take place as soon as you were of age; that all my plans and hopes for you centred in this one engagement. I have not pressed the matter on your attention ...
— Macaria • Augusta Jane Evans Wilson

... Reynolds, on more than one occasion, to call me Ella, instead of using the formality which rather belongs to strangers in fashionable society than to those dwelling beneath the same roof, in the wilds of Kentucky?" responded the person addressed, in a tone of pique, while she raised her head and let her soft, dark eyes rest reproachfully ...
— Ella Barnwell - A Historical Romance of Border Life • Emerson Bennett

... consists of a double-breasted frock coat of soft cheviot, vicuna, or diagonal worsted with either waistcoat to match—single-breasted or double-breasted—of fancy cloth, Marseilles duck or pique; trousers of different material, usually cashmere, quiet in tone, with a striped pattern on a dark gray, drab, or blue background; boots of patent leather, buttoned, not tied; a white or colored shirt with straight standing white collar; a four-in-hand, ...
— The Complete Bachelor - Manners for Men • Walter Germain


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