Word
prank
US/ˈpɹæŋk/
UK/pɹˈæŋk/
Definitions
01a practical joke
n. a trick that you play on someone to make people laugh.
n. a practical joke or mischievous act intended to provoke laughter or surprise at the expense of a target.
“The students played a prank on their teacher by hiding all the whiteboard markers.”
“What started as a harmless office prank quickly escalated when the manager failed to see the humour in having his desk wrapped in foil.”
02to play a joke on someone
v. to play a trick on someone to make them look foolish.
v. to subject someone to a practical joke or deceptive trick. Transitive — requires a direct object representing the person being tricked.
“He tried to prank his sister by putting a fake spider in her bed.”
“The teenagers spent the evening trying to prank their friends with anonymous phone calls and edited photos.”
Informal
03to dress up showily
v. to dress yourself in very bright or fancy clothes to get attention.
v. to dress or adorn oneself in a showy, ostentatious, or vain manner. Often used with 'out' or 'up' in literary contexts.
“The young lord was pranked in his finest silk and gold for the festival.”
“She sat before the mirror, pranking herself in jewels and velvet as if preparing for a royal audience rather than a simple dinner.”
Archaic · Literary
Synonyms
Etymology
Origin uncertain. Perhaps from Middle English pranken (“to adorn, arrange one's attire”), probably from Middle Dutch pronken, proncken (“to flaunt, make a show, arrange one's attire”), related to German prangen (“to make a show, be resplendent”), Dutch prangen (“to squeeze, press”), Danish pragt (“pomp, splendor”), all from Proto-Germanic pranganą, prangijaną, prag- (“to press, squeeze, thring”), from Proto-Indo-European brengʰ- (“to press, squeeze”). Or, perhaps ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *brahtaz, similar to Dutch pracht (“splendor”), Swedish prakt (“glory, pomp”) (loaned from Low German). Cognate with Middle Low German prunken (“to flaunt”), German prunken (“to flaunt”), Danish prunke (“to make a show, prank”). Sense of "mischievous act" from earlier verbal sense of "to be crafty or subtle, set in order, adjust". See also prink, prance, prong.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.