Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as puck.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete The devil; Satan.
  • noun dialectal A fairy; elf; sprite.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English *poukel, *pukel, from Old English pūcel ("a goblin, demon, a mischievous spirit"), diminutive of pūca ("demon, goblin, imp"), equivalent to puck +‎ -le. Cognate with Danish pokker ("devil, deuce"). More at puck.

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Examples

  • You were here because you are open to all forms of popular cultural expression, and recognise the right we have to a variety of interest and activity ... if the rolling puckle punks did not exist for contrast, the the ballet at the Arts Centre wouldn't look so darling now would it?

    Saturday night in Reservoir Another Outspoken Female 2009

  • They were as puir's I kenna what, an 'mony a puckle meal did they get oot o' oor girnil, for Dauvid Mortimer was a nice man, altho 'he was terriple hudden doon wi' the reums.

    My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond

  • But fykin 'an' scutterin 'awa' amon 'exyems, as you ca' them, an 'triangles, an' a puckle things like laddies 'girds and draigons, that nae livin' sowl cud mak 'ether eechie or ochie o' ---- Feech!

    My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond

  • A puckle o 'thae Cooncillors crack as gin they were genna pet bow-windas into a' the graves, to lat ye hae a grand view efter you was buried.

    My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond

  • I mind a gey puckle years syne there was a craze for walkin'-sticks wi 'ebony handles.

    A Dominie in Doubt Alexander Sutherland Neill 1928

  • "There will be a fell puckle funerals I daresay," said the undertaker.

    A Dominie in Doubt Alexander Sutherland Neill 1928

  • "Says he tae me nae later than yesterday, 'That's a fine field o' barley ye've there, Maister Harris, 'an' as sure as deith a 'didna ken whaur tae luik, for it was a puckle aits."

    Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush Ian Maclaren 1878

  • "It canna be coals 'at he's wantin' frae the station, for there's a fell puckle left."

    Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush Ian Maclaren 1878

  • There's a puckle o 'the upland bairns pass oor wy frae schule, and whiles Lachlan' ill meet them when he's aifter his sheep, and as sure as a'm stannin 'here, he' ill lay aff stories aboot battles and fairies, till the laddies 'ill hardly gae hame.

    Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush Ian Maclaren 1878

  • a nicht or twa, an 'got a puckle triangles an' parilelly grams into my heid, I'll be fit to gie a scrieve on the watter question, or the scaffies 'wadges, that'll garr some o' oor Toon Cooncillers crook their moos.

    My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond

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