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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
Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker, 16 June 2025
The 131-centimeter (51-inch) mint green figurine with a gremlin-like appearance, sharp teeth and puckish grin went for 1.08 million yuan ($150,325) at the Yongle International Auction house that normally specializes in selling jewelry and modern art.
—Fred He, CNN Money, 11 June 2025
McNally’s puckish combativeness had found a ready outlet.
—Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
His kitchen skills, puckish humor and enthusiasm helped earn him regular invitations to appear on TV cooking shows, including every Food Network series and a couple shows for TLC.
—Pamela Kragen, Mercury News, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for puckish
Cite this Entry
“Puckish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puckish. Accessed 27 Jun. 2025.
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