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pikey

noun
/ˈpaɪ.ki/

Etymology

Possibly from obsolete pike (“depart or travel”), or possibly from turnpike. The verb is derived from the stereotype that the Romani people or other travellers are thieves.

  1. inherited from *pīkaz✻
  2. inherited from *pīk✻
  3. derived from pic
  4. derived from pique
  5. inherited from pīc
  6. inherited from pyke
  7. suffixed as pikey — “pike + y”

Definitions

  1. A pike (type of fish).

    • 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.

  2. Associated with or filled with pike (fish).

    • 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.
    • The name gar-pike has gone some way to suggest the non-existent relationship, while (two dorsal fins notwithstanding) the pike-perches look remarkably 'pikey'.

  3. An itinerant person, especially one of Romani or Irish Traveller heritage.

    • “They must be the pikeys who live up there. They're a nasty bunch. Shouldn't get mixed up with them.” “Well, we told them to fuck off, they didn't seem that nasty to me! What are pikeys anyway?” “Well, they're like vagabonds.”
    • Gipsies and the pikey race generally were a class outside Lord Sandbar's previous experience, and he listened greedily.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. A working-class (often underclass) person with negative qualities stereotypically…

      A working-class (often underclass) person with negative qualities stereotypically ascribed to itinerant people, including rowdiness, theft and poor hygiene.

      • But if there's one thing he hates more than pikeys, it's posh people.

    2. Associated with pikeys.

      • Blimey. The least pikey place on the planet.
      • > You could try moving somewhere less pikey?
      • >> > No, you're more pikey than a traffic warden. >> >> Nothing is more pikey than a traffic warden, even an immigrant. >> >> > Not even a Glaswegian?

    3. To steal.

      • >It's getting hold of a copy that isn't pikeyed that I'm having >difficulty with :-(
      • Agree with Adrian about it being Pikeyed. At least you've a cheque to go buy something else.
      • Rumour has it that you once posting something interesting that was pikeyed straight from scrotexes lame troll book.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for pikey. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA