Espièglerie definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (1)

Jesting; raillery; good-humored teasing or bantering. They chaff one another with sickening espièglerie. Athenœum, Jan. 14, 1888, p. 48.

He had all the brightness of the Tuscan folk, a sort of innocent malice mixed with _espièglerie_. — New Italian sketches
She looks the embodiment of good temper, merry wit, and _espièglerie_. — Mrs. Hungerford Notable Women Authors of the Day
Whatever of spirituality, whatever of youthful foolish _espièglerie_ the face had held, had vanished. — Despair's Last Journey
He speaks Italian beautifully, "said she, with _espièglerie_. — The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 84, October, 1864
Bellequeue, as noted above, is by no means a fool, and achieves as near an approach to a successful "character" as Paul de Kock has ever drawn; while Rose plays the same part of piebald angel as Lucile in _André_, with a little more cleverness in her espièglerie and at least no vouched-for unlawfulnesses. — A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century