spalpeen
Americannoun
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a lad or boy.
-
a rascal; scamp.
noun
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an itinerant seasonal labourer
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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
"I'll bet the spalpeen will get a scare when you walk into that hangar," O'Malley said with a grin.
From A Yankee Flier with the R.A.F. by Montgomery, Rutherford George
Eagerly the boys had talked over the possibilities of Levi being a spy, Dennis firmly contending that there was not "spunk enough in the little spalpeen to do anything for himself."
From The Young Sharpshooter at Antietam by Tomlinson, Everett T. (Everett Titsworth)
Her heart, which had been beating with indignation the whole time, had nearly betrayed itself when she heard Emon-a-knock called a spalpeen.
From The Catholic World; Volume I, Issues 1-6 A Monthly Eclectic Magazine by Rameur, E.
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)
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.
