pawky


Also found in: Thesaurus.

pawk·y

 (pô′kē)
adj. pawk·i·er, pawk·i·est Chiefly British
Shrewd and cunning, often in a humorous manner.
[From English dialectal pawk, a trick.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pawky

(ˈpɔːkɪ)
adj, pawkier or pawkiest
Scot having or characterized by a dry wit
[C17: from Scottish pawk trick, of unknown origin]
ˈpawkily adv
ˈpawkiness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.pawky - cunning and sly; "the pawky rich old lady who incessantly scores off her parasitical descendants"- Punch
Britain, Great Britain, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; `Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom
artful - marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft; "the artful dodger"; "an artful choice of metaphors"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
Keep a secret if ye can frae the pawky ears o' yer domestics in the servants' hall!--Eh!
View in context
"You are developing a certain unexpected vein of pawky humour, Watson, against which I must learn to guard myself.
View in context
His folks reckon his pawky humour is inherited from his paternal grandfather, an inveterate contributor to newspaper letters pages.
Interview: 25 years on, Tam Cowan on why fans needed Off the Ball
And it wouldn't be authentically Scottish without generous helpings of pawky wit.
AN ARRESTING TALE; REBUS: LONG SHADOWS THEATRE ROYAL, GLASGOW 29.01.19 in
Ann's talk was inspirational and moving, interspersed with touches of pawky humour.
Ann's quilts raise Alzheimer's cash; PS95k total to date
Burroughs's Tzara-like experiments with cut and reassembled texts by Shakespeare and others, all in bravura synchronization with Tom Stoppard's pawky Travesties (in which Tristan Tzara's cut-up poetry cuts up the action).
Shakespeare / Cut: Rethinking Cutwork in an Age of Distraction
Groundskeeper Willie's real-life antecedent, the comic-singer Harry Lauder, became the most internationally celebrated Scotsman in the first half of the last century through his exaggeration of Scottish speech, slyness, and care with money, helped by his trademark outfit of kilt, bonnet and curly stick, to present a pawky, almost pre-industrial personality (though Lauder himself started work in the mines).
Apu makes you laugh, but such stereotypes do harm
(49) In contrast with 'our modern niminypiminy mealy-mouthedness', Inglis venerates the 'quaint instance of the Scotch idiom', and the 'pawky sayings and racy incidents which form the never-ending subject of Scottish reminiscence'.
Scotland, 'Greater Britain', and the kailyardic contra(-)diction
Now I [jokingly] think of myself as Sybil, the wife of the innkeeper on [the BBC comedy], Pawky Towers."
Be their guest: an artistic couple turns a lido beach triplex into ultra-cool vacation cottages
According to Birnie in an author's note, 'I hope "Glendower's Honour" will merit as much favour with the public as did my former efforts to portray scenes, characters and incidents in the daily lives of the hardy, shrewd, pawky folks of the North of Scotland' (p.
Doric Drama: the first thirty years, 1894-1924
For those who began reading Philip Roth as he began writing, with pawky provocations such as Goodbye, Columbus (1959), Portnoy's Complaint (1969), and The Breast (1972), he remains the eternal enfant terrible of American letters.
Four Score and Philip Roth
The music soars and plunges through every mood from pensive melancholy to pawky humour.
Belcea Quartet First night, Birmingham [...]
Dictionary browser ?
Full browser ?