spalpeen

[spal-peen, spal-peen]

noun Irish English.

a lad or boy.
a rascal; scamp.

Origin of spalpeen

1770–80; < Irish spailpín seasonal hired laborer, rude person, scamp, equivalent to spailp spell, bout, turn + -ín noun suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for spalpeen

Historical Examples of spalpeen

Can't ye lend a hand to the spalpeen while you're doing nothing?
Manners, Vol 2 of 3
Frances Brooke
He called this morning and said the spalpeen was doing splendid.
The Boy Patrol Around the Council Fire
Edward Sylvester Ellis
Why couldn't that spalpeen have showed himself where he made me expect him?
Blazing Arrow
Edward S. Ellis
Why, thin, did the spalpeen say it was himself that was bested?
The Launch Boys' Cruise in the Deerfoot
Edward S. Ellis
If ye'll smash that spalpeen I'll be attending to the same wid this one.
The Launch Boys' Cruise in the Deerfoot
Edward S. Ellis

British Dictionary definitions for spalpeen

spalpeen

noun Irish

an itinerant seasonal labourer
a rascal or layabout

Word Origin for spalpeen

C18: from Irish Gaelic spailpín itinerant labourer

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