Prig

A knavish beggar in the Beggar’s Bush, by Beaumont and Fletcher.

Prig. A coxcomb, a conceited person Probably the Anglo-Saxon pryt or pryd.

Prig. To filch or steal. Also a pickpocket or thief. The clown calls Autolʹycus a “prig that haunts wakes, fairs, and bear-baitings.” (Shakespeare: Winter’s Tale, iv. 3.)

In Scotch, to prig means to cheapen, or haggle over the price asked; priggin means cheapening.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.