spalpeen

American  

[spal-peen, spal-peen] / spælˈpin, ˈspæl pin /

noun

Irish English.

1. a lad or boy.

2. a rascal; scamp.

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spalpeen British  

/ ˈspælpiːn /

noun

1. an itinerant seasonal labourer

2. a rascal or layabout

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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

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

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 said a spalpeen let you down," O'Malley growled.

From A Yankee Flier Over Berlin by Laune, Paul

"Because ye could not yourself, is not to say that a miserable spalpeen like Belmanoir could not."

From The Black Moth A Romance of the XVIIIth Century by Heyer, Georgette

Sure, the little spalpeen owed me ivrything he had about him!

From McClure's Magazine, Vol. XXXI, No. 4, August 1908 by Various