"pawky" meaning in English

See pawky in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈpɔːki/ [British] Forms: pawkier [comparative], pawkiest [superlative]
Etymology: From pawk + -y. Etymology templates: {{affix|en|pawk|-y}} pawk + -y Head templates: {{en-adj|er}} pawky (comparative pawkier, superlative pawkiest)
  1. (Scotland, northern British) Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour. Tags: British, Northern, Scotland

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pawk",
        "3": "-y"
      },
      "expansion": "pawk + -y",
      "name": "affix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From pawk + -y.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pawkier",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pawkiest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "er"
      },
      "expansion": "pawky (comparative pawkier, superlative pawkiest)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -y",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Scottish English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 161:",
          "text": "[H]e generally meets her at one Signora Sporza's, a very pawky gentlewoman, who understands what's what as well as any woman in Naples […].",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "text": "1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, Act 1, p.36-37.\n'Awa', ye pawky thief! Dost tu think that I'll herrie the laird's cellar for thee or ony body?—But there's the whisky bottle in my ain cupboard, wi' some driblets in it yet, that ye may tak; and deil a drap mair shall ye get, an thy tongue were as guizened as a spelding. I wonder wha learnt sic a youngster as thee to be sae pawky."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Sydney Ross, Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men of Science, Springer, page 32:",
          "text": "Those unacquainted with the pawky humor of the Scot will search unsuccessfully in reference books for mention of the elusive Colonel Boffin.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, J. A. Hadfield, Why Do We Laugh, Lulu.com, page 202:",
          "text": "Just as a pun, to be a good pun, has to be not only a play on words but have a serious meaning, so pawky humour must carry sense. However the underlying humour is always there.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour."
      ],
      "id": "en-pawky-en-adj-e1wmJc7y",
      "links": [
        [
          "Shrewd",
          "shrewd"
        ],
        [
          "sly",
          "sly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Scotland, northern British) Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Northern",
        "Scotland"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɔːki/",
      "tags": [
        "British"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "pawky"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pawk",
        "3": "-y"
      },
      "expansion": "pawk + -y",
      "name": "affix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From pawk + -y.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pawkier",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pawkiest",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "er"
      },
      "expansion": "pawky (comparative pawkier, superlative pawkiest)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English terms suffixed with -y",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Scottish English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 161:",
          "text": "[H]e generally meets her at one Signora Sporza's, a very pawky gentlewoman, who understands what's what as well as any woman in Naples […].",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "text": "1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, Act 1, p.36-37.\n'Awa', ye pawky thief! Dost tu think that I'll herrie the laird's cellar for thee or ony body?—But there's the whisky bottle in my ain cupboard, wi' some driblets in it yet, that ye may tak; and deil a drap mair shall ye get, an thy tongue were as guizened as a spelding. I wonder wha learnt sic a youngster as thee to be sae pawky."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Sydney Ross, Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men of Science, Springer, page 32:",
          "text": "Those unacquainted with the pawky humor of the Scot will search unsuccessfully in reference books for mention of the elusive Colonel Boffin.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, J. A. Hadfield, Why Do We Laugh, Lulu.com, page 202:",
          "text": "Just as a pun, to be a good pun, has to be not only a play on words but have a serious meaning, so pawky humour must carry sense. However the underlying humour is always there.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Shrewd",
          "shrewd"
        ],
        [
          "sly",
          "sly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Scotland, northern British) Shrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Northern",
        "Scotland"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpɔːki/",
      "tags": [
        "British"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "pawky"
}

Download raw JSONL data for pawky meaning in English (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.