spalpeen
Americannoun
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a lad or boy.
-
a rascal; scamp.
noun
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an itinerant seasonal labourer
-
a rascal or layabout
Etymology
Origin of spalpeen
1770–80; < Irish spailpín seasonal hired laborer, rude person, scamp, equivalent to spailp spell, bout, turn + -ín noun suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
What does a writer do when he has already won the Man Booker Prize and can make copacetic use of words like preterite, spalpeen, goitrous and phthistic?
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2010
Sure, an' I'm told this Colonel Benson who is to be in command is a spalpeen of the worst sort.
From A Yankee Flier in Italy by Montgomery, Rutherford George
Why didn't you tell us you had that nasty lump, you young spalpeen?
From The Boy Scouts in A Trapper's Camp by Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo)
I will, father, and if I fail, and I find that that spalpeen Lennon is at the bottom of it, let them both look out, that's all.
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by Rameur, E.
"Arrah thin, ye spalpeen, where's Samba?" cried Barney as the dog came to him.
From Samba A Story of the Rubber Slaves of the Congo by Strang, Herbert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
