pikey
/ˈpaɪ.ki/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.84 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Associated with or filled with pike (fish).
noun
An itinerant person, especially one of Romani or Irish Traveller heritage.
British usage; Offensive
noun
A working-class (often underclass) person with negative qualities stereotypically ascribed to itinerant people, including rowdiness, theft and poor hygiene.
British usage; Derogatory; Offensive
Example Sentences
- "The first time he comes to the surface of the water he gasps for breath, his huge mouth gapes, he gives his head a shake and out tumbles the bait, hooks and all, not one of them having had hold, and away goes pikey quite satisfied with his entertainment pro tem., and wondering what that ugly two-legged moster with the hop pole in his hand, and who looked in such a state of perplexity and stew, had to do with the matter"
- "In 1876, in twelve fishings in the same months, there were caught 31 Pikeys, 4 Spotted Dogs, and 441 Nowds."
- "A pikey's a pike. It's the dirtiest fish in the water."
- "The boated Pikey makes a series of tailstands as it lunges about, biting at feet, bags, hands, creels and thwarts."
- "Like its schoolboy master, the rod built from the cane then chosen has since had many a narrow escape "by flood and fell," and not a few damaged 'tips,' aye, and 'joints' too; but its main timbers are as sound as ever, and I trust may yet be destined to wave death over many a pikey pool and glittering torrent when the hand that chose them is no longer able to do justice to their supple graces."
- "The Broadland waters are pikey waters. There is no doubt that if Norfolk is famous for any one species of fish, then it is for none other than Esox himself, the predatory pike."
Etymology
From pike + -y.
Usage
- Informal
- British usage
- Offensive
- Derogatory
- Slang
Inflected Forms
pikeys (plural)
more pikey (comparative)
most pikey (superlative)
pikeys (present, singular)
pikeying (participle, present)
pikeyed (participle, past)
pikeyed (past)