A person who is annoyingly self-righteous and acts superior to others because they think they're more moral or proper than everyone else.
First recorded in the 1600s, possibly from an old dialect word meaning 'to steal' or from Irish 'prig' meaning 'to plunder.' The meaning shifted to describe someone so strict they seem like a thief of joy.
The word 'prig' perfectly captures why Victorian literature is full of characters everyone wants to push into ponds—authors were tired of insufferable moral busybodies!
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