puppyishadj.
/ˈpʌpɪɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈpəpiɪʃ/ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > impudence > [adjective] > pert or brash
pertc1405
skipjack1598
puppily1682
whelpish1688
saucy1710
owdacious1751
minxing1767
puppyish1775
puppy-like1792
brash1824
pertish1836
cheekish1838
uppish1841
tossy1848
fly1884
soubrettish1891
whipper-snapping1925
in your face1975
1775 F. Burney Let. 14 Apr. in Early Diary (1889) II. 39 He is conceited, self-sufficient, and puppyish.
1828 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 23 34 Your stage fops are to be..silly in stays, puppyish in pantaloons.
1852 F. E. Smedley Lewis Arundel xl. 351 His whole demeanour blasé and puppyish in the extreme.
1873 Appletons' Jrnl. 31 May 732/3 The career of writing that began with the somewhat puppyish brilliancy of a Pelham is well ended with..this study.
1887 Times 9 Mar. 8/2 Recognising the fact that the communication is merely intended as a studied insult or else as a stupid specimen of puppyish self-sufficiency, Dr. Tanner declines to answer.
2. Resembling or characteristic of a puppy or young dog; (esp. of a person) gentle; naive; devotedly or unquestioningly loyal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [adjective] > of a puppy
puppily1748
puppyish1826
1826 Times 13 Oct. 3/6 The prisoner, with the most puppyish affectation of sorrow, said..he was sorry, very sorry indeed, for what had occurred.
1871 Ladies' Repository June 408/1 It was a comical little beast..with large eyes that were absolutely laughing with puppyish glee.
1925 F. S. Fitzgerald Great Gatsby iii. 61 Girls were putting their heads on men's shoulders in a puppyish, convivial way.
1989 N. Bawden Tortoise by Candlelight (BNC) 108 ‘Now kiss me,’ Emmie said and bobbed against him, hardly a kiss, no more than a puppyish thrust of affection.
2004 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) July 148/3 The last few years have put a hard glint in hazel eyes that were once so puppyish.
Derivatives
ˈpuppyishly adv.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > impudence > [adverb] > pertly or brashly
pertly?1529
saucily1539
touchily1653
pert1795
puppyishly1817
tossily1851
brashly1865
pertlike1879
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [adverb] > like a puppy
whelplichc1460
puppy-like1617
puppyishly1817
1817 H. C. B. Campbell Jrnl. 10 Oct. in Journey to Florence (1951) 103 Mr Cornwall was puppieshly vulgar.
1971 A. McCaffrey Mark of Merlin i, in Three Women (1990) 268 He barked ecstatically, snapping at the falling snow and rolling in it puppyishly.
2005 Evening Standard (Nexis) 19 Aug. 25 He's supposed to be grateful, puppyishly devoted, malleable and endlessly, exhaustingly ‘up for it’.
ˈpuppyishness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pride > impudence > [noun] > pertness or brashness
sauciness1534
pertness1573
puppyism1776
sauce1786
puppyhood1849
puppydom1855
puppyishness1879
freshness1880
brashness1883
whipper-snapping1925
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dog > [noun] > puppy > state of being (like)
puppyhood1751
puppyishness1879
1879 Forest & Stream 9 Oct. 709/3 The trouble of which you complain in your dog is merely puppyishness, and may not disappear until he is over two years old.
1938 Times 11 Mar. 12/2 The young ne'er-do-weel whose naughty manners are given a clever twist of lackadaisical puppyishness by Mr. Douglas Home.
1949 M. Mead Male & Female iii. 67 There is..much giggling puppyishness among boys.
2005 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 30 Oct. 3 He is attractive if not heart-stoppingly gorgeous; a mixture of dark brooding and slight puppyishness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1775