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• puck
  puck

  noun

  a black disk of vulcanized rubber that is to be hit into the goal.
• Puck
  Puck

  noun

  a particularly mischievous sprite in English folklore who appears as a character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

puck

¹ American  

[puhk] / pʌk /

noun

• pucks
  plural

1. Ice Hockey. a black disk of vulcanized rubber that is to be hit into the goal.

2. Computers, British. mouse.

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Puck ² American  

[puhk] / pʌk /

noun

1. Also called hobgoblin.  Also called Robin Goodfellow.  a particularly mischievous sprite in English folklore who appears as a character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

2. puck, a malicious or mischievous demon or spirit; a goblin.

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puck ¹ British  

/ pʌk /

noun

1. a small disc of hard rubber used in ice hockey

2. a stroke at the ball in hurling

3. slang a sharp blow

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verb

1. to strike (the ball) in hurling

2. slang to strike hard; punch

puck ² British  

/ pʌk /

noun

1. Also called: Robin Goodfellow.  (often capital) a mischievous or evil spirit

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• puckish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• pucks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of puck¹

First recorded in 1890–95; alteration of poke ¹

Origin of Puck²

First recorded before 1000; Middle English pouke, Old English pūca; cognate with Old Norse pūki a mischievous demon

Explanation

If you hit a puck with a long stick on a regular basis, you're probably a hockey player. A puck is a round, hard rubber disc. Dictionaries hate to resort to "origin uncertain," but a few of them do when it comes to puck, the small rubber disk used in ice hockey. One theory is that it's related to the verb poke, by way of the archaic verb form of puck, "to hit or strike." Its toehold in history got firmer footing 90 years ago, when the National Hockey League was formed. In the 1930's, hockey players were referred to as pucksters in sports reporting lingo.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

puck Puck pucks

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that the device would be circular like a donut, about the size of a hockey puck, and cost between $300 and $400, with a launch planned for 2027.

From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026

Robertson noted that while Gordie Howe played with his "elbows up", he would also say that "the objective is to get the puck in the net".

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

Olympic hockey team’s win over the Soviets in 1980—is a triumph tattooed on the national memory, though the memory frequently forgets that the game wasn’t shown until three hours after the puck dropped.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

This type of powerful smartglasses offloads their computing, connectivity and batteries to a puck that sits in the wearer’s pocket.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

I slumped into the net and let the puck gently follow me over the line.

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely

Puck is in advanced talks for an investment from RedBird Capital Partners, which would value the newsletter-based media company at $250 million.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

According to Puck News’ Leigh Ann Caldwell, who cited “a reputable Democratic source,” the congresswoman and her fiancé Riley Roberts called off their engagement “about 18 months ago.”

From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026

Puck News first reported Amazon dropping the movie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

Everlane declined to comment on the Puck report.

From MarketWatch ● May 19, 2026

Puck licked his fingers, and looked pityingly at him: I would not have parted from Puck for a million.

From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851 by Various

It has tubs of brown butter, frozen flat or portioned into little pucks, ready to make a weeknight bowl of noodles taste as if someone planned better than you did.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

The pucks are featured in an “Olympics ‘26” display that also contains a hockey stick used by Brady Tkachuk of the U.S. team and a U.S. jersey worn by four-time Olympian Hilary Knight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

While his body may be moving slower, the pucks he launches toward goal most definitely are not.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2025

There are periods in any given day when my kids have the energy of pucks flying across an air hockey table.

From Slate ● Oct. 20, 2024

The air was charged with the smack and whoosh of slapped pucks.

From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely