puck
11. a small disc of hard rubber used in ice hockey
2. a stroke at the ball in hurling
puck
2 a mischievous or evil spirit
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
Puck
(puk) A small roughly spherical satellite of Uranus, discovered in 1985 by Voyager 2. It has a low albedo and three named craters: Bogle, Lob, and Butz. See Uranus' satellites; Table 2, backmatter.Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006
Puck
(religion, spiritualism, and occult)Variations on the name Puck include Púca, Phouka (Irish), Pwca (Welsh), Bocca, and Boucca (Cornish). According to Margaret Murray, these names derive from the Slavic Bog meaning "God." Puck is often depicted much like Pan, or a satyr, with goats' legs and horns.
Puck is a spirit, frequently depicted as mischievous in the manner of the Teutonic Loki. He is said to be able to give humans the power of understanding animals' speech, but is also fond of leading travelers astray. Christianity frequently associates him with their devil. He is a shape-shifter and often appears as a black animal.
Puck is also sometimes known as Robin Goodfellow. Witches associate him with the Horned God and the Greenwood.
An interesting remnant of Pagan festivities is found in County Kerry, Ireland, where the annual August Eve (Lughnasadh) Puck Fair is held at the little village of Killorglin. A horned goat is crowned "Puck King of the Fair" and "Puck King of Ireland." The goat is treated with great pomp and ceremony: its horns and hooves are painted gold and garlands are hung about its neck. The fair lasts for three days. The goat is displayed on a platform, which is made higher each successive day. On the third and final day, the goat is crowned before being returned to the wild. Significantly, in earlier ceremonies, the goat was killed, roasted, and eaten shortly after its final crowning. This was undoubtedly a survival of the substitute Divine King sacrifice.
Q A B B A L A H see KABBALAH
The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism © 2002 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.
Puck
[pək] (astronomy)
A satellite of Uranus orbiting at a mean distance of 53,440 miles (86,010 kilometers) with a period of 18 hours 20 minutes, and with a diameter of about 96 miles (154 kilometers).
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Puck
the “shrewd and knavish sprite” who causes minor catastrophes and embarrassing situations. [Br. Drama: Shakespeare A Midsummer Night’s Dream]
Puck
knavish hobgoblin who plays pranks. [Br. Folklore & Lit.: A Midsummer Night’s Dream]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
puck
A mouse-like object used to draw on a digitizer tablet. A puck is more precise than a mouse. See digitizer tablet and mouse.Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Puck
in ice hockey, a black, hard-rubber disk with flat top and bottom surfaces. It is 76.2 mm in diameter, 25.4 mm thick, and weighs 140–170 g. The sides are lightly scored.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.