waggishness

They dress like clergymen, and affect that mixture of clerical solemnity and clerical waggishness which is generally to be found among minor canons and vicars choral of a cathedral.

The Last Chronicle of Barset 2004

They dress like clergymen, and affect that mixture of clerical solemnity and clerical waggishness which is generally to be found among minor canons and vicar chorals of a cathedral.

The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope 1848

As he discharged himself of this pleasantry, Mr. Bumble took his hat from a peg, and putting it on, rather rakishly, on one side, as a man might, who felt he had asserted his superiority in a becoming manner, thrust his hands into his pockets, and sauntered towards the door, with much ease and waggishness depicted in his whole appearance.

Oliver Twist 2007

Glancing towards his daughters for the first time since he had begun these reflections, and seeing that they both smiled, Mr Pecksniff eyed them for an instant so jocosely (though still with a kind of saintly waggishness) that the younger one was moved to sit upon his knee forthwith, put her fair arms round his neck, and kiss him twenty times.

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit 2006

About midnight a Sultan el Bahr or Sea-king — a species of whale — appeared close to our counter; and as these animals are infamous for upsetting vessels in waggishness, the sight elicited a yell of terror and a chorus of religious exclamations.

First footsteps in East Africa 2003

If he didn't wag it off, he certainly absorbed its waggishness as a distinguishing characteristic of the "coming man" -- the future Artemas

Life: Its True Genesis R. W. Wright

This ducal waggishness gave me time to observe that the sergeant's uneasiness was icy coldness in comparison with his lordship's.

The Yeoman Adventurer George W. Gough

The use of nothing but lower-case font, and no punctuation (because the roach couldn't manage the shift-key), once adopted, had to be continued; and was probably worth while as a stunt, though that also is a primary kind of waggishness.

Christopher Morley writes about Don Marquis 1937

Ten to one it was yon Mr. Grieve, the minister of West Braeburn, who fairly blew in your face with waggishness when you offered him a chair in the waiting-room, and tee-heed that "a lawyer's office must be a dull place for a young leddy like you!"

The Judge Rebecca West 1937

We fear that Walt's waggishness was rather heavily shod.

Plum Pudding Of Divers Ingredients, Discreetly Blended & Seasoned Christopher Morley 1923