1905 J. London White Fang ii. v. 105 The cub felt the prod of the life that was in him, and stood up and snarled valiantly by his mother's side.

1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 24 Apr. (1970) 123 The whole purpose of this trip..was..to persuade the public to apply the prod to the Congress, so that the Poverty Bill can pass.

1986 Your Business Mar. 52/4 Another prod is a simple statement that the customer agrees to pay attorney fees and court costs if you have to sue to collect.

1999 N.Y. Times 30 Dec. c16/4 Optimistic investors are also a prod to capital spending.

1837 Times 21 Oct. 4/2 His lodger, in passing along the streets, was attacked by eight or nine persons, exclaiming, ‘There is the b——y Prod’.

1885 Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Apr. 10/2 The most bigoted Papist can play a game of nap or poker with a rabid Prod.

1942 E. Bowen Seven Winters 51 She spoke of ‘Prods’ (or, extreme, unctuous Protestants) with a flighty detachment that might have offended many.

1961 Spectator 28 Apr. 599 He was a ‘Mick’, I was a ‘Prod’ but we found no difficulty in being friends although we differed in faith.

1970 M. Kenyon 100,000 Welcomes ii. 14 A long-hair student, or a Prod, or similar riff-raff.

1992 I. Banks Crow Road viii. 187 I think they're like that in Lewis and Harris. But that's the hard-line prods up there. Down here they're Catholics; bit more relaxed about that sort of thing.

1977 P. Carter Under Goliath iii. 15 Most of the kids were in tough Prod gangs, like the Tartans... They always seemed to..tell if you were as hard-line Prod as they were.

1990 A. Beevor Inside Brit. Army xvii. 204 The Prod bully boys and the IRA ring each other up to sort out any rivalry on the ground.

1991 Independent 2 Oct. 19/2 The McCooey family were neither Prod nor Taig, but simply working-class.

1891 E. Kinglake Austral. at Home 119 The contemptuous terms..have led Mr. Newcome to suppose that his mount is most likely the quietest old ‘prod’ on the place.

1900 G. Elson in Academy 4 Aug. 91/1 The horse was a prod, the cart a drag.

1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued iv. sig. Di^v Thus may we see these kinde of men How they for Nummus prodde... They labor so with might and maine, They so besturre their stumpes, They exercise such ackward wayes To bring it in by lumps.

1696 Money masters all Things (1698) 94 The stinking Gold~finder with his white Rod, In common or in private Jakes will prod.

1844 C. J. Lever Tom Burke I. xviii. 123 The fellows were prodding about with their bayonets to discover you.

1859 Sat. Rev. 10 Dec. 705/2 To prod into the fat sides of the Hereford ox or Devon heifer.

1866 W. J. Fitzpatrick Sham Squire 112 Assailed by them all, and in stepping back, fell; they prodding at him.

1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 28 Ambling up the path, Keyes prods about in her tresses with his earthy fingers.

1986 K. Ishiguro Artist of Floating World 151 Ichiro sat there preoccupied with the spinach on his plate, sometimes prodding at it with his spoon.

1994 Church Times 30 Sept. 9/2 The plumber..pumped and prodded and poked and rodded: the noise was bad enough but the smell infinitely worse.

1832 Let. 6 Feb. in Atlantic Monthly (1887) Oct. 434/1 She straightway got a tutor, and prodded Ralph night and day to make up the conditions.

1871 J. R. Green Let. 20 Mar. (1901) 295 The excitement of trying..to prod them [sc. the Liberal clergy] into action against a judgment which..smites..them.

1890 Spectator 4 Oct. 429/2 You complain of Italy,—well, leave off prodding her.

1899 Daily News 6 June 2/2 Poor little things!.. I felt it was cruelty to even prod them with my few questions.

1905 K. Stephens Amer. Thumb-prints 155 It [sc. her conscience] is always alert, always busy, always prodding, and not infrequently sickened by its congested activity.

1918 Times Lit. Suppl. 21 Mar. 137/3 Thus judiciously prodded and egged on, the women of Paris arose in their wrath.

1931 Bee (Danville, Virginia) 24 Mar. 2/1 Don't prod him with questions. Wait and he will tell you in his own good time.

1953 E. Waugh Diaries (1979) 717 The Duke of Norfolk has been prodded into presenting a remonstrance.

1977 H. Fast Immigrants v. 301 He had to prod, finally asking her whether she liked the house.

1999 Australian 6 Apr. (Brisbane ed.) 5/8 Premier prods PM over drug war plan.

2005 Observer (Nexis) 31 July 18 Hill's extensive research convincingly vivifies ninth century China; he also interestingly prods issues of gender.

1879 G. Meredith Egoist xlvii Neat as a prodded eel on a pair of prongs.

2001 J. Diamond C: Because Cowards get Cancer Too (new ed.) iii. 57 I enjoyed writing the column enough to want to carry it on on my terms rather than those of a prodded public.

2004 Observer (Nexis) 14 Nov. 5 Hayden Mullins then reacted aggressively..springing up like a prodded cobra.