Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A mischievous spirit in Irish folklore.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
- n. A fairy that appears in animal form, often large. It appears only to some people.
- n. A convenient storage location or hiding spot created by the arrangement or form of surrounding objects
- v. The act of storing an object in a pooka
Etymologies
- From Hawaiian puka ("hole"). (Wiktionary)
- Irish púca, from Old Irish, probably from Old English pūca, goblin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I do know that the story involves the legendary Phinn McCool, some American cowboys, a pooka a species of human Irish devils endowed with magical powers named Fergus MacPhellimey and a cellar full of leprechauns.”
The Wall Street Journal: Flann O'Brien: Tall Tales, Long Drink
“A lot of the time it's leanan sidhe, although once in a while you might hear something about a pooka.”
“I don't understand what you're doing here with this pooka nonsense.”
“A winding narrative told the tale of a pooka who had spent an eternity of watching writers twist and burn under the weight of their own words.”
“Then he picked up an acoustic guitar for “Lovelier Than Thou,” a pooka-shell-ready beach ballad.”
The Washington Post: In concert: B.o.B. at Merriweather Post Pavilion
“It would make less sense though for one of the most powerful folks in the Marvel-verse to wear a pooka shell necklace and really long shorts.”
“I am especially fond of the lyrics. . . pooka pooka pooka, pooka pooka poo.”
“Let me attempt to provide a synopsis: A black kid picks up one of those picture-viewer dealies and sees some orange dudes with frosted tips and pooka shells singing a song on the beach singing… to him? what the hell is going on?”
“A pooka grazes peacefully where the river meets the sea”
“And the pooka shells, wow, the whole outfit is almost 40 years old!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pooka’.
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inquiryqueue's list
words delicious to pronounce
apostrophe, asphodel, anemone, cantaloupe, cantalevered, cardamom, coriander, petrichor, sycamore, luminous, tendril, peculiar and 122 more...
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bkerr's Words
wyrd, absinthe, homunculus, zorkmid, informon, decider, diachronic, frak, hwæt, feldercarb, yawp, dogfooding and 540 more...
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bilby's Words
pandemic, whirl, guffaw, ethereal, feisty, dunt, ephemeral, pule, flipergebet, prink, maunder, gammon and 1023 more...
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The Devil and His Imps
Names of 'the Devil himself, the devils his "flaming ministers", household goblins, rural demons, bogles, sprites, and fairies of all kinds' mentioned in Charles P.G. Scott's 'The Devil and His Imp...
devil, devilet, deviling, dablet, black angel, black man, black bear, black bull, black dog, bogle, bogie, boggard and 128 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Time for a new list!
abrupt, erupt, rupture, sync, appropinquity, heterochromia, homochromatic, monochromatic, willy nilly, nitty gritty, kowtow, wonton and 455 more...
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anotherfailedattempt's Words
kakistocracy, conflagration, pollyanna, equanimity, punctillious, obstreperous, ribald, belligerent, truculent, verbose, lachrymose, onanism and 278 more...
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Fictional beasties
elf, gnome, dwarf, sprite, troll, fairy, nymph, imp, brownie, sasquatch, yeti, wookiee and 574 more...
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librarygoblin's words
crystal, ghost, mist, snow, labyrinth, citadel, tomb, mystery, arcane, conundrum, echo, dynamo and 389 more...
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roseandivy's list
mooncalf, wonted, gibbet, artless, noontide, blithe, glitterati, vorpal, soporific, moxie, pilfer, betwixt and between and 263 more...
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Flora and Fauna
poa annua, pooka, vole, bestiary, popple, turgor, starling, sharpy, copse, coreopsis, clove, corvid and 348 more...
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bluemartian's Words
spruiker, adytum, ruminate, exedra, moonglade, spindrift, syzygy, glissade, skysill, pellucid, aquarelle, tatterdemalion and 108 more...
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Evin290's Words
puerile, fastidious, blatherskite, folderol, femtosecond, redox, incarnadine, cerulean, genuflection, muslin, multitudinous, miasma and 517 more...
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Seven
turnskin, therianthrope, mimic, mimical, mimetic, animagus, selkie, incantatory, cynanthrope, therianthropy, nagual, pooka and 200 more...
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Shapeshifters
turnskin, shapeshifter, skin-walker, therianthrope, mimic, animagus, selkie, werewolf, wolfman, lycanthrope, loup-garou, weretiger and 16 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pooka.
bilby "'Phat’s the Pooka? Well, that’s not aisy to say. It’s an avil sper’t that does be always in mischief, but sure it niver does sarious harrum axceptin’ to thim that desarves it, or thim that shpakes av it disrespictful. I never seen it, Glory be to God, but there’s thim that has, and be the same token, they do say that it looks like the finest black horse that iver wore shoes. But it isn’t a horse at all at all, for no horse ’ud have eyes av fire, or be breathin’ flames av blue wid a shmell o’ sulfur, savin’ yer presince, or a shnort like thunder, and no mortial horse ’ud take the lapes it does, or go as fur widout gettin’ tired."
- D. R. McAnally, Jr., 'Irish Wonders', 1938. Jul 15, 2012
palooka Palooka need to add pooka! Sep 24, 2007
bluemartian "P O O K A - Pooka - from old Celtic mythology - a fairy spirit in animal form - always very large. The pooka appears here and there - now and then - to this one and that one - a benign but mischievous creature - very fond of rumpots, crackpots, and how are you, Mr. Wilson?" Sep 23, 2007
thinkcharlene Harvey Feb 14, 2007