Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Shrewd and cunning, often in a humorous manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Arch; humorously sly.
  • Crafty; shrewd; clever.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Scot. Arch; cunning; sly.

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

  • adjective Scotland Shrewd, sly; often also as characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective cunning and sly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From English dialectal pawk, a trick.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From pawk + -y.

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Examples

  • But there are records of Antony which represent him as a far more genial and human personage; full of a knowledge of human nature, and of a tenderness and sympathy, which account for his undoubted power over the minds of men; and showing, too, at times, a certain covert and "pawky" humour which puts us in mind, as does the humour of many of the Egyptian hermits, of the old-fashioned Scotch.

    The Hermits Charles Kingsley 1847

  • In consequence the movie is visually remarkable as it tries to keep up with the frenetic activities of secret agent Ethan Hunt Tom Cruise accepting an impossible mission for the fourth time and his new trio of likable operatives: beautiful, resourceful Paula Patton, pawky computer wizard Simon Pegg and constantly fretting analyst Jeremy Renner.

    Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – review 2012

  • Ye see, "says he, shaking his pawky old head," the day ye find a priest sittin 'in the court at Trinity is a day ye'll be able to skate over Dublin Bay from Bray to Balbriggan - an' as for seein 'St Stephen's Green from the court, well, I doubt if even ould Faylen could see that far from heaven, where he's been this five-and-thirty years, God rest his soul.

    THE NUMBERS 2010

  • But these voices add a wonderful, pawky, startling texture to the account.

    Voices of change 2009

  • Edwin Gray, head of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, proved unexpectedly pawky in warning of the dangers, but Congress repeatedly refused his pleas for more funds to police the thrifts.

    S&Ls: Blaming The Media 2008

  • My Commonwealth readers will no doubt chalk that opinion up to my pawky colonial ways.

    Kenneth Hite's Journal princeofcairo 2005

  • Balfour, in whom the pawky Lowland lad, proud and precise, but

    Robert Louis Stevenson 2004

  • Ye see, "says he, shaking his pawky old head," the day ye find a priest sittin 'in the court at Trinity is a day ye'll be able to skate over Dublin Bay from Bray to Balbriggan - an' as for seein 'St Stephen's Green from the court, well, I doubt if even ould Faylen could see that far from heaven, where he's been this five-and-thirty years, God rest his soul.

    Flashman and the angel of the lord Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1995

  • Ye see, "says he, shaking his pawky old head," the day ye find a priest sittin 'in the court at Trinity is a day ye'll be able to skate over Dublin Bay from Bray to Balbriggan - an' as for seein 'St Stephen's Green from the court, well, I doubt if even ould Faylen could see that far from heaven, where he's been this five-and-thirty years, God rest his soul.

    Flashman and the angel of the lord Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1995

  • A good story is told of a pawky old Scot, who like many others, finds himself rather short of cash just now.

    Jokes For All Occasions Selected and Edited by One of America's Foremost Public Speakers Anonymous

Comments

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  • adjective

    cunning and sly; "the pawky rich old lady who incessantly scores off her parasitical descendants"- Punch

    July 21, 2007

  • Indeed she was something of a Langtry in these places, her extraordinary prettiness never failing to excite glances, stares, and all manner of looks, furtive and admiring, or gallant and lighthearted, from the rather pawky young men of the district.

    - Patrick Hamilton, The Siege of Pleasure

    March 5, 2009

  • "Mr. McLintock nodded, with a pawky sort of grin."

    The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1 by Diana Wynne Jones, p 538

    March 11, 2014