▪ I. puck, pook, n.1
(pʌk, pʊk)
Forms: α. 1 p{uacu}ca, 3–4 (9 Sc.) puke, 4–7 pouke, 5 powke, 6 pooke, 9 pook, pouk. β. 6–7 pucke, 7– puck. γ. 9 dial. poake.
[OE. p{uacu}ca = ON. p{uacu}ki a mischievous demon. Cf. W. pwca, pwci, Ir. p{uacu}ca (pooka). Cf. poker n.2, pug n.2
The ulterior history of the name and the question whether it was originally Teutonic or Celtic, is unsettled.]
An evil, malicious, or mischievous spirit or demon of popular superstition. a. Treated as a unique being, and in Middle Eng. (the pouke) commonly identified with the biblical devil; from the 16th c. (with capital P) the name of a fancied mischievous or tricksy goblin or sprite, called also Robin Goodfellow and Hobgoblin. (In this last sense commonly Puck.)
| α a 1000 in Napier O.E. Glosses xxiii. 2 Larbula [i.e. larvula], puca. c 1275 Sinners Beware 120 in O.E. Misc. 76 Hwen deþ schal cume Al hit wurþ heom bi-nume, And he bitauht þe puke [rime bruke]. 13.. St. Gregory 243 in Herrig Archiv LVII. 62 Ȝeo mad þe croiz vppon his brest fforte hit saue fram þe pouke. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 62 Þenne haþ þe Pouke pouwer Sire Princeps huius mundi, Ouer suche Maner Men. Ibid. xi. 158 Nigromancye and perimancie þe pouke to Rise makeþ. 1377 Ibid. B. xiii. 161 Ne noither hete, ne haille, ne non helle pouke. Ibid. xvi. 264 Oute of þe poukes pondfolde no meynprise may vs fecche. 1595 Spenser Epithal. 341 Ne let the Pouke, nor other euill sprights,..Fray vs. 1757 W. Thompson Hymn to May xxxiii. 6 Ne let hobgoblin, ne the pouk, profane With shadowy glare the light. |
| β 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 40 You are that shrew'd and knauish spirit Cal'd Robin Good-fellow. Are you not hee, That frights the maidens...? Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Pucke, You do their worke, and they shall haue good lucke. Ibid. v. i. 438–42 As I am an honest Pucke..We will make amends ere long: Else the Pucke a lyar call... And Robin shall restore amends. 1627 Drayton Nymphidia xxxvi, He meeteth Pucke, which most men call Hobgoblin. Ibid. xxxvii, This Puck seems but a dreaming dolt, Still walking like a ragged Colt, And oft out of a Bush doth bolt, Of purpose to deceive us. a 1635 Corbet Iter Bor. Poems (1647) 11 Turne your clokes Quoth he, for Pucke is busie in these Oakes:.. Then turne your Cloakes, for this is Fairie ground. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Sheph., Persons of the play:.. Puck-hairy, or Robin-Goodfellow. Ibid. iii. iv, O Puck, my Goblin! I have lost my belt. c 1745 ? Gray Characters of Christcross row Wks. 1884 I. 211 Pleased with his Pranks, the Pisgys call him Puck. 1831 Ritson Fairy T. 44 Puck, alias Robin Goodfellow, is the most active and extraordinary fellow of a fairy that we anywhere meet with. 1834 M. Howitt Sk. Nat. Hist., Monkey, Monkey, little merry fellow,..Full of fun, as Puck could be; Harlequin might learn of thee! 1864 Le Fanu Uncle Silas II. vi. 88 And why the puck don't you let her out? |
b. with a and pl. One of a class or number of such demons, goblins, or sprites.
| c 1000 Boulogne Glosses to Prudentius in Germania N.S. XI. 388 Uagantes demonas, wandriᵹende pucan. 13.. Coer de L. 566, I wis, sere kyng, quod Ser Fouke, I wene that knyght was a pouke. Ibid. 4326 He is no man, he is a pouke. 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. ix. (1593) 229 The countrie where Chymæra that same pooke Hath goatish bodie, lyons head and breast, and dragons taile. 1614 Sco. Venus (1876) 34 And that they may perceive the heavens frown, The Poukes & Goblins pul the couerings down. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. i. ii. (1624) 43 Those which Mizaldus cals Ambulones, that walke about midnight on great Heathes and desart places, which..draw men out of the way, and leade them all night a by way;..we commonly call them Pucks. 1824 J. M{supc}Culloch Highl. Scotl. II. 350 They are here, water spirits, and pucks, and witches. |
c. transf. A person having the character or habits attributed to Puck; in ME. a wicked man, a ‘devil’; now, one given to mischievous tricks, esp. a mischievous child or youngster.
| c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1922 A deceyour..Good is a man eschewe swich a powke. 1852 Mundy Our Antipodes (1857) 192 Sharp and intelligent, but terribly spoilt, nothing could be done..without the interposition of this little meddlesome Puck. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 10 July 1/3 How much longer is a political Puck to be allowed to play the very mischief with a national interest of such present magnitude? |
d. Often entering into place-names.
| 946 in Birch Cart. Sax. II. 575 Þa land-ᵹemæru þe sceotað dun to Pucan wylle. 11.. Chron. Monast. de Bello [Battle] (1846) 11 Per Puchehole usque at Westbece, juxta terram de Bodeham. 1312 Close Roll 5 Edw. II m. 3 in Calr. 426 Pukenhale [co. York]. 1906 Kipling (title) Puck of Pook's Hill. |
e. Comb. † puck-bug, a bugbear, a malignant spectre; puckfoisted a. (dial.), cheated by a demon, bewitched; puck-led a. (dial.): cf. pixy-led.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 89 That night in forrest to vs pouke bugs [L. immania monstra] gastlye be tendred. 1852 Allies Antiq. Worcestersh. (ed. 2) 418 The peasantry in Alfric [Worcs.], and those parts, say that they are sometimes what they call Poake ledden; that is, that they are occasionally waylaid in the night by a mischievous sprite whom they call Poake. 1889 Gissing Both of this Parish I. xii. 246 To be a-puckledden by fancy. 1932 H. J. Massingham Wold without End App. 294 Here are a few of the Elizabethan words that were heard at the Globe more than three hundred years ago and are heard to-day in the inns between Chipping Campden and Stow-on-the-Wold..‘puckfoisted’ for bewitched. |
▪ II. puck, n.2
[Origin uncertain: see Note below.]
1. (Also puck-bird.) The nightjar or goatsucker.
| 1883 Sawyer Sussex Nat. Hist. ii. 8 The ‘puck’ would fly before her, and she did not dare to cross its path. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 97 In many places..it is considered that animals either become blind or are infected with disease after being sucked [by the nightjar]. The country-people in West Sussex call this complaint ‘puck’ or ‘puckeridge’—perhaps from Puck, a malignant spirit—and the bird itself ‘puck bird’. |
2. A disease in cattle attributed to the nightjar.
| 1834 Youatt Cattle 362 In some parts of Surrey, under the name of the puck, the fore-quarter, or the side, is the part mostly affected. 1879 H. Dalziel Diseases Dogs (1892) 14 Anthrax,..a disease of cattle, known in the vernacular as..‘quarter ill’, ‘joint ill’, ‘hasty’, ‘puck’, ‘shoot of blood’, &c. |
[Note. Puck, puck-bird, and puckeridge are all rural names of the goatsucker or nightjar: it is not clear whether the two latter are compounds of puck, or whether this is itself short for one or other of them. As the bird is the object of much obloquy and even superstitious dread, it is quite possible that its name is derived from puck n.1, either as being ‘Puck's bird’, or itself a puck or demon-bird; but the composition and meaning of puckeridge then remain unexplained. The conjecture of some that the latter may be derived from puck v. to hit, strike, and ridge, OE. hrycg back, from the notion of its striking the backs of sheep and cattle and thus inflicting on them a fatal distemper (see puckeridge, quot. 1789) would app. withdraw the group from any connexion with puck n.1, except as a secondary association. But -ridge may be an oral corruption of some other word.]
▪ III. puck, n.3 Sport.
(pʌk)
[Origin obscure: cf. puck v.]
1. A flat india-rubber disc used for a ball, in ice hockey or bandy.
| 1891 Field 7 Mar. 334/3 The ball (or ‘puck’, as it is called) is a flat piece of india-rubber, circular in shape, about two inches thick, and with a diameter of about four inches. The game is played with, usually, seven a-side, and no striking with the stick is allowed, only pushing the ‘puck’ along the ice. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIII. 409/2 These men handle the little innocent rubber puck as Paderewski handles the black keys of a piano. 1930 Times 20 Mar. 7/2 A little later..Bencchi put the puck over his body into the net. 1951 Sport 7–13 Jan. 16/2 His old speciality, taking the puck at full speed and boring through to the net, is working overtime. 1971 L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports i. 7 The scoring objective can be stated simply: in football to advance the ball across a goal line; in basketball, hockey, soccer or lacrosse, to get the ball (or puck) into a goal. 1974 Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 13 Oct. c. 1/2 Toronto jumped to a 2–0 lead in the first period when Featherstone streaked in for an unassisted goal at 1:35 and Dillon rammed the puck home at 18:48. 1978 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. d. 17/6 Wayne Dillon won the draw from Mike Kaszycki but pulled the puck back to an empty spot on the circle. |
2. attrib. and Comb., as puck-dribbling, puck-handling, puck shot; puck carrier, in ice hockey the player in possession of the puck during play; puck-chaser colloq., an ice-hockey player; so puck-chasing vbl. n.; puck crown, ice-hockey championship; puck pusher colloq. = puck-chaser; puck sense, natural skill in ice hockey; puck shy a., of goalkeepers in ice hockey: afraid of being hit by a puck.
| 1957 Maclean's Mag. 28 Sept. 1/2 The top scorers in the League are the best puck carriers. |
| 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 Mar. 11/3 Calgary puckchasers take all the honors. 1979 Yale Alumni Mag. Apr. cn 1 The continuing resurgence of puck-chasers and net-stuffers is to be applauded. |
| 1950 Sport 24–30 Mar. 13/4 His family later moved to Fort William, in which town he did most of his puck chasing. |
| 1955 Penticton (B.C.) Herald 17 Mar. 5/3 There is no doubt in my mind—the Vees will bring this puck crown back to Canada. |
| 1974 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Jan. s. 2/7 He also gave a few exhibitions of puck dribbling with his skates, the only NHL defenceman who has this unique skill. |
| 1965 Kingston (Ontario) Whig-Standard 15 May 9/6 Flyers dominated the game with superior skating, checking, passing and puck-handling. |
| 1897 Medicine Hat (Alberta) News 25 Feb. 1/5 We have a club which can hold its own with the puck pushers from almost anywhere. |
| 1966 Hockey News (Montreal) 1 Jan. 13/2 An intangible part of Melnyk's all-round prowess is something called ‘puck sense’. |
| 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 17/3 He was lifted with three minutes to play in the second period when struck on the mask over the right eye by a puck shot at close range. |
| 1965 Ibid. 29 Dec. 24/2, I think the new rule could cause a goalie to become puck shy. |
▪ IV. puck, v. Now only dial. (chiefly Ir.)
(pʌk)
[? f. root puk-: see poke v.1]
trans. To hit or strike; to butt.
| [? c 1640 J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) II. 12 Hee also would to the threshing of the cock, pucke with hens, blindfold, and the like.] 1861 Clayton Frank O'Donnell 57 The ball was struck here and there, often pucked up in the air, then let again before it reached the ground. 1870 Kennedy Fireside Stories Irel. 37 (E.D.D.) The ram and the cow pucked her with their horns. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 247 Myler Keogh, Dublin's pet lamb, will meet sergeantmajor Bennett, the Portobello bruiser... God, that'd be a good pucking match to see. Ibid. 313 The referee twice cautioned Pucking Percy for holding. |
Hence puck n.4 (dial.), a stroke; a stroke at the ball in the Irish game of hurling; ˈpucking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1900 19th Cent. XLVIII. 306 The rival hurlers..meet together in wild rivalry for a puck at the ever flying ball. 1906 Somerville & Ross Irish Yesterdays 95, I gave William a puck in the chest. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 247 One puck in the wind..would knock you into the middle of next week. 1934 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) iii. 80 What he should of done was give you a puck in the mouth when you threw the drink at him. 1961 ‘F. O'Brien’ Hard Life ii. 18 Many a good puck I had myself in the quondam days of my nonage. 1979 N. Smythe in E. Berman Ten of Best Brit. Short Plays 120 I'll give you a puck in the gob in short order, mate. |
▪ V. puck, n.5
Short for puckfist 1, q.v.
▪ VI. puck
dial. var. pook n., a haycock.