puny

comparative punier · superlative puniest

1. Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.First known use 16th c.

   a puny attempt at an apology

   5 more examples

   You puny earthlings are no match for Ming the Merciless!

   I had forgot my ſelfe, am I not King? […] Is not the Kings name twenty thouſand names? / Arme arme, my name a puny ſubiect ſtrikes, / At thy great glorie, […]

   I have forgotten who I am: am I not the King? […] Is not the King's name worth the names of twenty thousand people? / To arms, my name! An inferior subject strikes / At your great glory, […]

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   And twentie of theſe punie lies Ile tell, / That men ſhall ſweare I haue diſcontinued ſchoole / About a twelue moneth: […]

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 177, column 1

   How ſhould puny ſcribblers be abaſhed and diſappointed, when they find him diſplaying a perfect theory of lexicographical excellence, yet at the ſame time candidly and modeſtly allowing that he "had not ſatisfied his own expectations."

   1791, James Boswell, “[1755]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC, page 163

   [W]e dart / O'er wave or field: yet breezes laugh to scorn // Our puny speed, […]

   1827, [John Keble], “Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity”, in The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 87

   Synonyms: angular, anorexic, carrion, emaciated, gangling, gangly, gaunt, haggard

2. Southern USsouth Midland US(Frequently) ill; poorly, sickly.First known use 18th c.
3. Alternative spelling of puisne.
   1. obsoleteInferior in rank; specifically, of a judge: junior.First known use 16th–19th c.

      Many thought that he had altogether cut his own throat, and that he would have to take the first "puny" judgeship vacant.

      1871 (date written), Anthony Trollope, “Daniel Thwaite receives his Money”, in Lady Anna. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1874, →OCLC, pages 111–112

      3 more examples

      Gadsbodkins, you puny Upſtart in the Law, to uſe me ſo, you Green Bag Carrier, you Murderer of unfortunate Cauſes, the Clerks Ink is ſcarce off of your fingers, you that newly come from Lamblacking the Judges ſhooes, and are not fit to wipe mine; […]

      1676 December 11 (first performance), [William] Wycherley, The Plain-Dealer. A Comedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for James Magnes and Rich[ard] Bentley […], published 1677, →OCLC, Act III, page 42

      WHEN John firſt brought out the Bills, the Surprize of all the Family was unexpreſſible, at the prodigious Dimenſions of them; […] Fees to Judges, puny Judges, Clerks, Prothonotories, Philizers, Chirographers, Underclerks, Proclamators, Counſel, Witneſſes, Jury-men, Marſhals, Tipſtaffs, Cryers, Porters; […]

      1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “How John Look’d Over His Attorney’s Bill”, in Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 20

      But if you think this Trade to baſe, / (Which ſeldom is the Dunce's Caſe) / Put on the Critick's Brow, and ſit / At Wills the puny Judge of Wit.

      1733, [Jonathan Swift], On Poetry: A Rapsody, Dublin; London: […] [R. Fleming] [a]nd sold by J. Huggonson, […], →OCLC, page 15, lines 237–240

   2. obsoleteComing later in time; secondary, subsequent.First known use 17th c.
   3. obsoleteNot experienced; novice.First known use 17th–18th c.

plural punies

1. archaicAn inferior person; a subordinate; also, an insignificant person.First known use 16th c.

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   2 more examples

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   [T]hou chuff, thou puny, thou got in the peasestraw thou losel, thou chitterling, thou spawn of a rebel, thou dykedropt, […]

   1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 14: Oxen of the Sun]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 374

   Synonyms: inferior, junior, puisne, underling, vassal, absolute zero, also-ran, chopped liver · Antonyms: superior, baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name

2. obsoleteA younger person; a junior.First known use 16th–17th c.

   [A] law that the eldeſt or firſt-borne child ſhall ſucceede and inherite all: where nothing is reſerved for punies, but obedience: […] Theſe vaine ſhadowes of our religion, which are ſeene in ſome of theſe examples, witnes the dignitie and divinity thereof.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, “An Apologie of Raymond Sebond”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, pages 333–334

   1 more example

   For a worthy man is wounded more deeply by his own Generalls neglect, then by his enemies ſword: […] Who had rather others ſhould make a ladder of his dead corps to ſcale a city by it, then a bridge of him whileſt alive for his punies to give him the Goe-by, and paſſe over him to preferment.

   1642, Thomas Fuller, “The Good Generall”, in The Holy State, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Roger Daniel for John Williams, […], →OCLC, book IV, paragraph 5, page 328

3. Alternative spelling of puisne.
   1. obsoleteA person who is not experienced; a beginner, a novice.First known use 16th–18th c.

      Nay then I ſee thou'rt but a puny in the ſubtill Miſtery of a woman: […]

      1607, attributed to Thomas Middleton or Cyril Tourneur, The Revengers Tragædie. […], London: […] G[eorge] Eld, […], →OCLC, Act I

      Synonyms: newb, rookie, tenderfoot, abecedarian, alphabetarian, apprentice, amateur, beginner

   2. obsoletelawA puisne or junior judge.First known use 16th–17th c.
4. obsoleteuniversity slanglawA new student at a school, university, the Inns of Court, etc.; a junior.First known use 16th–17th c.

   1 more example

   [T]he whole companye or most parte of the Studentꝭ [Studentis] of the same house mette toogether to beginne their Christmas, of wᶜʰ som̃e came to see sports […] others to make sporte wᵗʰall of this last sorte were they whome they call Fresh-menn Punies of the first yeare, who are by no meanes admitted to be agent's or behoulders of those sports, before themselues haue biñe patient perfourmers of them.

   c. 1610, “[The Election of the Prince]”, in Frederick S[amuel] Boas, editor, The Christmas Prince (The Malone Society Reprints; 47b), London: Printed for the Malone Society by Frederick Hall M.A. at the Oxford University Press, published 1923 (indicated as 1922), →OCLC, page 3, lines 9–12 and 14–18

   Synonyms: fresher, freshman, new bug, novi, shadow