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saucy

[saw-see]
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adjective, sau·ci·er, sau·ci·est.
  1. impertinent; insolent: a saucy remark; a saucy child.
  2. pert; boldly smart: a saucy little hat for Easter.
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Origin of saucy

First recorded in 1500–10; sauce + -y1
Related formssau·ci·ly, adverbsau·ci·ness, nouno·ver·sau·cy, adjective

Synonyms for saucy

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1. rude, impudent, fresh, brazen. 2. jaunty.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for saucily

impudently, impertinently, rudely, insolently

Examples from the Web for saucily

Historical Examples of saucily

  • "I should not care if he did," the girl said saucily, as she held up her face.

    Under Wellington's Command

    G. A. Henty

  • "Oh, Miss Leicester is not going to sing," cried Rose, saucily.

    Isabel Leicester

    Clotilda Jennings

  • "No more tears to-night I fancy, eh Isabel," said Emily saucily.

    Isabel Leicester

    Clotilda Jennings

  • "Ask no questions——you know the rest" returned Lucy saucily.

    Isabel Leicester

    Clotilda Jennings

  • "Not in the manner you so saucily imply, Miss Greensleeve," he said gaily.

    Athalie

    Robert W. Chambers

British Dictionary definitions for saucily

saucy

adjective saucier or sauciest
  1. impertinent
  2. pert; jauntya saucy hat
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Derived Formssaucily, adverbsauciness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for saucily

adv.

1540s; see saucy + -ly (2).

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saucy

adj.

c.1500, "resembling sauce," later "impertinent, flippantly bold, cheeky" (1520s), from sauce (n.) + -y (2). The connecting notion is the figurative sense of "piquancy in words or actions." Cf. sauce malapert "impertinence" (1520s), and slang phrase to have eaten sauce "be abusive" (1520s). Also cf. salty in same senses.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper