Meaning of pikey | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A pike (type of fish).
   informal
2. An itinerant person, especially one of Romani or Irish Traveller heritage.
   Ireland, UK, ethnic, offensive, slur
3. A working-class (often underclass) person with negative qualities stereotypically ascribed to itinerant people, including rowdiness, theft and poor hygiene.
   Ireland, UK, derogatory, offensive

Examples

“The first time he comes to the surface of the water he gasps for breath, his huge mouth gapes, he gives his head a shake and out tumbles the bait, hooks and all, not one of them having had hold, and away goes pikey quite satisfied with his entertainment pro tem., and wondering what that ugly two-legged moster with the hop pole in his hand, and who looked in such a state of perplexity and stew, had to do with the matter”

“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.”

“The boated Pikey makes a series of tailstands as it lunges about, biting at feet, bags, hands, creels and thwarts.”

““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.”

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

CEFR level