prickle

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prickle/ˈprɪkl/

▶noun

• 1 a short spine or pointed outgrowth on the surface of a plant or on the skin of an animal.

• 2 a tingling or mildly painful sensation on the skin.

▶verb

• 1 experience or produce a prickle.

  ■ cause such a sensation in.

• 2 react defensively or angrily.

– origin OE pricel ‘instrument for pricking, sensation of being pricked’; from the Gmc base of prick; the verb is partly a dimin. of prick.