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

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

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

Maybe he's of the same kidney as the spalpeen in the play who betune the sheets is frighted by the Banshees.'

From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Wingfield, Lewis

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)

“Thin we run for it, and the suspinders jerkin’ out of me hands, the little spalpeen showed me the heels of him, me cursin’ after him amazin’.

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