puckish

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

From Puck + -ish, after the mischievous fairy in English folklore who is also a character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

He had a puckish knowledge of human nature. — The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol, William John Locke
On the morning of the conference, Burton, Mrs. Burton and Cameron gave themselves the treat of going over to the Lido for bathing and breakfast; and being in puckish mood, the two men, notwithstanding the great crowd of pleasure seekers, took off their shoes and stockings, turned up their trousers, and made sand castles. — The Life of Sir Richard Burton, Thomas Wright
And as to his celery and Stilton cheese--But there! it's lunch-time, and I'm beginning to feel a little puckish myself.... Every morning when it was fine Barty and his aunt would take an airing round the town, which was enclosed by a ditch where there was good skating in the winter, on long skates that went very fast, but couldn't cut figures, 8 or 3! — The Martian: A Novel, George Du Maurier

arch, impish, implike, mischievous, pixilated, prankish, wicked

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