pawky

comparative pawkier · superlative pawkiest

1. NorthernScotlandUKShrewd, sly; often also characterised by a sarcastic sense of humour.First known use 17th c.

   Brownie-Clod was not so pawky, and he was constantly overreached by the servants, with whom he used to make contracts.

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 395

   5 more examples

   [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 […].

   1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 161

   1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, Act 1, p.36-37. '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.

   At Number 9 there was Lord Danvers, a distinguished but weak-looking man whose francs were presumably provided by his rich American wife, a middle-aged woman with the predatory mouth of a barracuda, who sat at Number 3. Bond reflected that they would probably play a pawky and nervous game and be amongst the early casualties.

   1953, Ian Fleming, “The High Table”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 72

   "I had occasion to comment last January, Watson," remarked Holmes, "upon the unexpected vein of pawky humor which you are developing.

   1960 August, Thomas F. Mosimann, “The Adventure of the Obstruent Chessmen”, in Chess Review

   Those unacquainted with the pawky humor of the Scot will search unsuccessfully in reference books for mention of the elusive Colonel Boffin.

   1991, Sydney Ross, Nineteenth-Century Attitudes: Men of Science, Springer, page 32