puckish

adjective

puck·​ish ˈpə-kish How to pronounce puckish (audio)
puckishly adverb
puckishness noun

Did you know?

We know Puck as "that merry wanderer of the night," the shape-changing, maiden-frightening, mischief-sowing henchman to the king of the fairies in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Bard drew on English folklore in casting his character, but the traditional Puck was more malicious than the Shakespearean imp; he was an evil spirit or demon. In medieval England, this nasty hobgoblin was known as the puke or pouke, names related to the Old Norse pūki, meaning "devil." (There is no connection to modern English puke.) But it was the Bard's characterization that stuck, and by the time the adjective puckish started appearing regularly in English texts in the 1800s the association was one of impishness, not evil.

Examples of puckish in a Sentence

He had a puckish smile on his face. he takes a puckish delight in teasing her about her love life, or lack thereof
Recent Examples on the Web The honor followed on the heels of her BAFTA win for Yorgos Lanthimos’ puckish spin on the costume drama, in which Stone plays a woman who finds liberation and self-actualization after being brought back to life by an eccentric surgeon. Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times, 11 Mar. 2024 While his work for clients generally calls for classical proportion, albeit with a modern eye, his personal taste is puckish, even zany. Nancy Hass Luana Rigolli, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2022 The Progressive Corporation struck advertising gold when its first campaign featuring a puckish employee named Flo debuted in 2008. Alicia Adamczyk, Fortune, 27 Nov. 2023 The drive to complete that escape would take Mr. Stewart first to the stage and then to the television and film roles that have depended on his balance between stately British delivery and puckish, trans-Atlantic good humor. Barbara Spindel, WSJ, 17 Nov. 2023 Morrissey’s puckish perspective always scares pop-music traditionalists by exploring previously unspoken depths. Armond White, National Review, 1 Nov. 2023 Across the table from him sat Somer, and next to him, my father, who, though still deeply mourning the loss of my mother, was able to at least try to be his usual, puckish self, employing swears like the rest of us use prepositions. Nicole Avant, Rolling Stone, 28 Oct. 2023 Alongside his outsize entrepreneurial ventures—Tesla and SpaceX, among them—there is his public persona: charming, puckish, combative, mercurial. Arthur Herman, WSJ, 11 Sep. 2023 Ranked:The 75 best 'Star Wars' characters Bordizzo, on the other hand, is the highlight of the show as the puckish Sabine, whose personality pops off the screen. Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 23 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puckish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

puck entry 2

First Known Use

1831, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of puckish was in 1831

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Dictionary Entries Near puckish

Cite this Entry

“Puckish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puckish. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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