puck

plural pucks

1. archaicA mischievous or hostile spirit.First known use 10th c.

   William Tyndale allotted this character a role, of leading nocturnal travellers astray as the puck had been said to do since Anglo-Saxon times and the goblin since the later medieval period.

   2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press, published 2018, page 232

2. human sciencesThe mischievous fairy-like creature from English folklore, like Puck from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

   Synonyms: Robin Goodfellow, faerie, faery, fairy, fay, sprite

present singular third person pucks · participle present pucking · participle past pucked · past pucked

1. IrelandTo hit, strike.First known use 19th c.

plural pucks

1. hobbiesA hard rubber disc; any other flat disc meant to be hit across a flat surface in a game.First known use 19th c.

   In hockey a flat piece of rubber, say four inches long by three wide and about an inch thick, called a ‘puck’, is used.

   1886 February 28, Boston Daily Globe, page 2

   1 more example

   The game itself, though played by men, was probably meant to enact a mediation of the opposites of male and female, with a circular puck being the feminine symbol and the phallic hockey stick being the masculine symbol.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 184

2. CanadaAn object shaped like a puck.First known use 20th c.

   He reaches into the urinal and picks up the puck. He then walk over to the sink and replaces a bar of soap with the urinal puck.

   2004, Art Directors Annual, volume 83, Rotovision, page 142

3. computingA pointing device with a crosshair.First known use 20th c.
4. hurlingA penalty shot.

plural pucks

1. Irelandrusticbilly goat

plural pucks

1. gymnasticsA body position between the pike and tuck positions, with knees slightly bent and folded in; open tuck.

   The puck position is allowed during competitions when performing multi-twisting multiple somersaults.

   2013, The Sports Book: The Sports, the Rules, the Tactics, the Techniques

1. human sciencesA mischievous sprite in Celtic mythology and English folklore.

   Synonyms: Robin Goodfellow, puck

2. astronomyOne of the satellites of the planet Uranus.