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OED Word of the Day

Your word for today is: puny, n. and adj.

puny, n. and adj.

[‘ Usu. in pl. A junior or recently admitted pupil or student in a school or university, or in the Inns of Court. Also in extended use. Cf. petit n. 1. Obs.’]

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈpjuːni/,  U.S. /ˈpjuni/

Forms:  15 punys,   15–16 puney,   15–16 punie,   15–16 punye,   15– puny,   16 punay,   16 punee. 

Etymology:A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: puisne adj.Variant of puisne adj. (see discussion at that entry), now chiefly restricted to sense B. 2, in which this is the only current form.

 A.n.

 rare after 17th cent.

†1. Usu. in pl. A junior or recently admitted pupil or student in a school or university, or in the Inns of Court. Also in extended use. Cf. petit n. 1. Obs.

In extended use overlapping with sense A. 3.

1548  W. Patten Exped. Scotl. L vj, Like ye play in Robin Cooks skole, whear bicaus the punies may lerne thei strike fewe strokes, but by assent & appointement.

1590  J. Stockwood Eng. Accidence sig. Ajv, The Booke to the Punies and Petits of the Grammar Schoole.

1609  T. Dekker Ravevens Almanacke sig. A3, The Punies and young Frye of the Lawe.

c1610 Christmas Prince(1922) 3 They whome they call Fresh-menn Punies of the first yeare.

1673  R. Allestree Ladies Calling i. i. §19 As if vice now disdain’d to have any punies in its school.

†2. gen. A person younger or more junior than another or others; a junior. Obs.

1567  J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. 103 Therefore S. Augustine saithe, Deus docuit Petrum per posteriorem Paulum… Thus God instructed Peter by Paule his punee, that was called after him.

1603  J. Florio tr. Montaigne Ess. ii. xii. 334 The eldest..child shall succeede and inherite all; where nothing is reserved for punies, but obedience.

1638  T. Jackson Treat. Consecration Sonne of God 117 Much lesse did the ancient Poets..borrow their fancies..from the Iewish Rabbins who were their punies.

a1682  Sir T. Browne Let. to Friend(1690) 3 He is Dead and Buried, and by this time no Puny among the mighty Nations of the Dead.

†3. A raw or inexperienced person; a novice, a beginner. Obs.

?1570  T. Drant Two Serm. ii. sig. F.ij, The authoritie of the church to Sainct Augustine being a puny and a nouice in matters of religion, was greater then the authoritie of Christ.

1589  T. Nashe To Students in  R. Greene Menaphon Epist. sig. **2v, The idle vsage of our vnexperienst punies.

1607  T. Middleton Revengers Trag. i. sig. C, I see thou'rt but a puny in the subtill Mistery of a woman.

1638  W. Chillingworth Relig. Protestants i. iv. §23. 204 Punies in Logick, know that universall affirmatives are not simply converted.

1688  H. Wharton Enthusiasm Church of Rome 55 He was no puny in this Art.

1709  E. Ward Secret Hist. Calves-head Club 9 Men of your Profession, that have lived long enough to be Judges, are not such Punies in cunning, to play their Feats of Iniquity above-board.

1731  N. Spinckes Sick Man Visited(ed. 4) p. ii, Might we not then presume that they who are void of fear and trembling are punies in knowledge and sense?

1790  W. Crakelt Entick’s New Spelling Dict.(rev. ed.) 301 Puny, a mere novice, an unexperienced wretch.

 4.

 a. An inferior, a subordinate; a person of no significance. Now arch. and rare.

1579  G. Harvey Let.-bk.(1884) 61 [To reap] displeasure of my worshipfullist dearist frendes… Contempte and disdayne of my punyes and underlings.

1626  C. More Life Sir T. Moore 2, I..who know my selfe a verie puney in comparison of so manie famous men.

1658  F. Osborne Trad. Mem. Raigne Iames 23 in Hist. Mem. Reigns Elizabeth & Iames, The Swis, though owners of brave actions, are yet so farre their Punies in the learning of trade.

1711  J. Anderson Countrey-man’s Let. to Curat 4 Sacheverell Himself is but a puny for an oculist in comparison of him.

1809  C. Lamb  & M. Lamb in  F. Mylius First Bk. Poetry(1811) 62 Puss in corners, hide and seek, Sports for girls and punies weak!

1922  J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiv. [Oxen of the Sun] 374 Thou chuff, thou puny, thou got in the peasestraw.

†b. A puisne or junior judge. Cf. puisne n. 2. Obs.

1599  J. Weever Epigrammes iv. xv. sig. E4, When Death such Lawyers doth out-face, Then punies may not pleade the case.

1608  A. Willet Hexapla in Exodum 526 That the punies and inferiour Iudges should deliuer their opinion first.

?a1659  T. Pestell Poems(1940) 73 Atturneys, punies, clerks, solicitors, Encamping and uniting all their force.

 B.adj.

†1. Junior; inferior in rank, subordinate; spec. designating a junior judge. Cf. puisne adj. 1. Obs.

1579  W. Fulke Heskins Parl. Repealed in D. Heskins Ouerthrowne 296 Appealing..from the lower house of punys Burgesses to the higher house of auncient Barons.

1589 Sir T. Smith’s Common-welth(rev. ed.) ii. xiv. 74 The officer before whom the Clarke is to take these essoines, is the puny Iustice in the common pleas.

1615  T. Overbury et al.  New & Choise Characters sig. K2 (heading) , A Puny-clarke.

1676  W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iii. i, Gads~bodikins, you puny upstart in the law, to use me so!

1712  J. Arbuthnot Law is Bottomless-pit xi. 20 Fees to Judges, puny Judges, Clerks,..Underclerks, Proclamators [etc.].

1733  Swift On Poetry 15 Put on the Critick’s Brow, and sit At Wills the puny Judge of Wit.

1783  J. Elphinston Hypercritic 65 The puny Judge knew no better than to read, at the board, the following Sentence, here copied from the archetype.

1874  Trollope Lady Anna II. xxxiii. 112 He would have to take the first ‘puny’ judgeship vacant.

 2.

 a. Inferior in size, quality, or amount; insignificant; weak; diminutive, tiny.

?1594  H. Constable Diana(new ed.) vii. x. sig. F3v, Such punie thoughts..whose inaudacitie dares but base conceite.

1600  Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. iv. 74 And twenty of these punie lies ile tell, that men shall sweare I haue discontinued schoole aboue a twelue-moneth.

1692  E. Walker tr. Epictetus Enchiridion viii, The puny loss shall not disturb your mind.

1745  E. Hayward Female Spectator III. xvi. 212 The Men, for the most Part, are admirably well proportioned, though they say of a more puny Constitution and lower Stature than they were in former Times.

1791  J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1739 I. 74 Some puny scribbler invidiously attempted to found upon it a charge of inconsistency.

1838  R. W. Emerson Oration before Literary Societies 10 The great idea, and the puny execution.

1898  G. W. Steevens With Kitchener to Khartum 139 The River was punier than ever and the belt of bush thin.

1933  E. A. Powell Slanting Lines of Steel xi. 172 Suddenly the bedlam of bells and whistles and guns..was drowned, obliterated, by a new sound, inconceivably terrifying, which made all that had preceded it puny in comparison.

1975 Guardian 20 Jan. 8/5 Britain’s puny role in the East–West power game.

1999  S. Rushdie Ground beneath her Feet(2000) xv. 465 But it would be vain indeed to praise our puny handiwork.

 b. Of a person, animal, or plant: undersized, slight; lacking in strength, weak, feeble.

a1616  Shakespeare Othello(1622) v. ii. 251 Euery puny whipster gets my sword.

1664  H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 28 Muffet cals this Insect,Locustellum, or, a puny-Locust.

1700  R. Gwinnett Let. 3 Sept. in Pylades & Corinna(1731) 18 He was a puny sickly Child, but has hunted himself into Strength and long Life.

1798  S. Rowson Reuben & Rachel(1799) II. vi. 218 Her eldest brother’s children were all puny beings,and her second brother had never married.

1817  J. Austen Sanditon x, in Minor Wks.(1954) 413  A very puny, delicate-looking young Man, the smallest very materially of not a robust Family.

a1862  H. D. Thoreau Maine Woods(1864) iii. 225 When you get fairly into the middle of one of these grim forests..the larger inhabitants are not at home commonly, but have left only a puny red squirrel to bark at you.

1871  B. Jowett in  tr. Plato Dialogues II. 34 They..did not wish to preserve useless lives, or raise up a puny offspring.

a1902  S. Butler Way of All Flesh(1903) xxii. 94 He had not much of the buoyancy of childhood, and was more like a puny, sallow little old man than I liked.

1937 Amer. Home Apr. 100/2 When the puny things arrived he was dismayed and..his neighbor advised him to plant only half of them or less and give the rest away.

1982  U. Bentley Natural Order(1983) 128, I felt mildly insulted at the idea that I was too puny to carry a bag of shopping.

 c. Chiefly U.S. regional (esp. south. and south Midland). In poor health; ailing; sickly.

1770  F. Sheridan Concl. Mem. Miss Sidney Biddulph IV. xix. 144 My mama is going to the farm with Harry, (who I think continues very puny).

1838  K. De R. Kennedy in  N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk(1956) 289, I found your dear Aunt Catherine in a very puny state, not entirely confined, but obliged to rest herself on the bed more or less every day.

1866  C. H. Smith Bill Arp, so Called 170 Me and him like to have fit, and perhaps would, if I hadn’t been puny.

1904  W. N. Harben Georgians xvii. 163 Little Minnie begun to fail; she got so puny she spit up ever'thing she ate.

1943  T. Pratt Barefoot Mailman i. 7 Don’t you go making fun of sickness. Mister Dewey Durgan here has been puny the last few days and needs the best advice.

2001  A. C. George One & Magic Life 126 You’re feeling puny?.. Come on lie down. It’ll be a few minutes before Dr. Horton can see you.

†3. Raw, inexperienced, novice. Obs.

1602  F. Herring in  tr. J. Oberndorf Anatomyes True Physition Ep. Ded. sig. A 3v, No Commander will prefer the punee and fresh-water Souldier before the auncient and well-disciplined Warriour.

1653  T. Gataker Vindic. Annot. Jer. 10.2 131 Your Argument..is so sillie, as that..any punie Sophumer may at first sight discover the feebleness of it.

1712  W. Rogers Cruising Voy. 244 Neither do I think it half so bad as these puny Mariners tell us.

1767  G. Canning Poems 50 Such puny novices our Hero scorns, Whose brainless head a front of brass adorns.

†4. Later, recent; = puisne adj. 3. Obs.

1628  W. Prynne Briefe Suruay Mr. Cozens 29 Composed by some vaine and illiterate Monkes of punie times.

1648  W. Prynne Plea for Lords 373 No precedents of puny date within time of memory.

1651  N. Bacon Contin. Hist. Disc. Govt. sig. A2v, Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of Parliament..were not knowne nor heard of, till punier times then these.

Derivatives

†punyish adj. Obs. nonce-wd. somewhat puny.

1832  J. Wilson in Blackwood’s Edinb. Mag. 32 865 Feeblish faces that must frown, punyish figures that must strut.

†punyism n. Obs. the quality of being puny, puniness; (also) a puny individual.

1791  T. Paine Rights of Man i. 67 The punyism of a senseless word like Duke, or Count, or Earl, has ceased to please.

1859  N. P. Willis Convalescent xix. 164 The pale little overdressed punyisms—stunted with indigestion and spoilt temper—that one sees at the hotels and watering-places!