Pesky

Definition: Pesky

Pesky

Adjective

1. Causing irritation or annoyance; "tapping an annoying rhythm on his glass with his fork"; "aircraft noise is particularly bothersome near the airport"; "found it galling to have to ask permission"; "an irritating delay"; "nettlesome paperwork"; "a pesky mosquito"; "swarms of pestering gnats"; "a plaguey newfangled safety catch"; "a teasing and persistent thought annoyed him"; "a vexatious child"; "it is vexing to have to admit you are wrong".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "pesky" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1884. (references)

Note: Pesky \Pes"ky\, adjective. [Etymology uncertain.]. (references)

Synonyms: Pesky

Crosswords: Pesky

After I sinks a certain pesky rabbit, I'll come back and pick you up (Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island; writing credit: David Detiege; John W. Dunn)

A pack of pesky pixies. (references; author: unknown)

Pesky Pelican (1963)

A Pesky Pup (1917)

Priscilla and the Pesky Fly (1916)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• Don't Be Pesky, Little Monkey: Touch and Play (Little Friends Series) (reference)

• Julius: The Perfectly Pesky Pet Parrot (reference)

• Outwitting Ants: 101 Truly Ingenious Methods and Proven Techniques to Rid Your House and Yard of Ants and Other Pesky Bugs (Outwitting) (reference)

• Pesky and Pete (reference)

• That Pesky Rat (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Those Pesky Kids! [IMPORT] (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Bringing up father. "Every exterminator in town is busy, so I guess it's up to me to git rid of these pesky ants!!". Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Expression using "pesky": annoying galling chafing irritating nettlesome pesky pestiferous pestilent plaguy plaguey teasing vexatious vexing. Additional references.

Albanian

shqetësues (anxious, disorderly, disquieting, disturbing, hairy, perturbing, pestilent, plaguy, vexatious, worrisome), i mërzitshëm (annoying, boring, bothersome, corny, dead alive, depressing, dissatisfactory, dreary, dry, dull, fatiguing, fierce, plaguesome, pragmatical, slow, tedious, tiresome, weariful, wearisome, weary), i bezdisshëm (annoying, bothersome, fussy, grating, haunting, intrusive, irksome, painful, troublous, trying, vexatious). (various references)

Arabic 

‏غذر (scruffy). (various references)

Bulgarian 

отегчителен (boring, moldy, pestilent, prolix, prosy, provoking, tiresome, weary, wearying), белялия, досаден (aggravating, annoying, boring, bothersome, importunate, intrusive, irksome, irritating, lengthy, long winded, monotonous, mundane, obtrusive, officious, pain in the neck, painful, pestiferous, pestilent, plaguesome, plaguy, ponderous, prolix, provoking, tedious, tiresome, tiring, vexatious, weariful, wearisome, weary). (various references)

French

sale. (various references)

German

verdammt (accursed, blast, blast it, blasted, bleeding, blinking, bloody, condemns, confounded, confoundedly, cursedly, dammit, damn, damn it, damned, darn, deuced, flaming, perishing, ruddy), nervtötend (soul-destroying), ärgerlich (aggravating, angrily, angry, annoyed, annoying, cross, exasperating, galling, infuriating, irksomely, irritating, irritatingly, peeved, resentful, upset, upsetting, vexatious, vexatiously, vexing). (various references)

Greek 

ενοχλητικόσ (annoying, bothersome, importunate, meddlesome, obtrusive, offensive, plaguy, troublesome, troublous, vexatious, worrisome), ενοχλητικός (disturbing, grating, irritating, troublesome, trying), οχληρόσ (bore, bothersome, irksome, obtrusive, pest, plaguy). (various references)

Hungarian

bosszantó (aggravating, annoying, disagreeable, disappointing, exasperating, galling, importunate, invidious, irking, irksome, nettlesome, pestilent, plaguesome, plaguy, provocative, trying, vexatious, vexing). (various references)

Italian

seccante (annoying, boring, bothersome, irksome, tiresome), scocciante (bothersome), noioso (annoying, boring, dull, humdrum, onerous, prosy, slow, stodgy, tame, tedious, tiresome, troublesome, workaday, worrisome), fastidioso (annoying, bothering, bothersome, fastidious, inconvenient, maddening, nagging, tiresome, troublesome). (various references)

Pig Latin

eskypay.(various references)

Portuguese

muito desagradável, maldito (accursed, accurst, bally, blasted, cursed, cussed, darned, dratted, ruddy, unblessed), incómodo (ailment, annoyance, annoying, awkward, bumbling, cumbersome, cumbrous, discomfort, dreadful, intrusive, left-handed, meddler, muff, nagging, nuisance, plaguesome, ragtime, rush, shrill, thorn, tiresome, trouble, troublesome, uncomfortable, unhandy, untoward, unwelcome, vexatious, vexing, worrisome), enfadonho (arid, barren, boring, bothersome, difficult, disagreeable, drab, dull, fastidious, humdrum, insipid, lengthy, monotone, monotonous, muzzy, preachy, prolix, prosy, repetitious, soporific, stodgy, tedious, tiresome, untoward, vapid, vexing, wearisome, weary), aborrecido (annoyed, beastly, boring, bothersome, damnable, disgusted, drab, dreary, dull, dullish, grouchy, horrid, irksome, jaded, meddler, morose, mumpish, outworn, pernickety, prose, provoking, soporific, stodgy, sulky, tedious, tired, tiresome, tiring, troublesome, unpleasant, vexed, vexing, wearisome, weary, worn-out, worried, worrisome). (various references)

Romanian

plictisitor (boring, boringly, dead, dreadful, dry, dull, dully, flat, heavy, irksome, jejune, languorous, long winded, long-spun, monotonous, monotonously, pedestrian, pestersome, pestiferous, repetitious, repetitive, sententious, slow, tedious, tediously, tiresome, trying, weary), pisãlog (bore, bothersome, faggot, pestiferous, pestle). (various references)

Russian 

надоедливый (annoying, boring, bothersome, irksome, meddlesome, molestful, pain in the neck, pestiferous, plaguesome, tiresome), досадный (aggravating, annoying, maddening, plaguesome, provoking, sad, vexatious), докучливый (bothersome). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

nesnosan (unbearable, unendurable), dosadan (acerbate, annoying, boring, bothersome, drear, dreary, grinding, humdrum, incommodious, long-spun, pain in the neck, poky, repetitious, slow, stodgy, stuffy, teasing, tedious, tiresome, undiverted, vexatious). (various references)

Spanish

maldito (accursed, accurst, beastly, blankety, blanky, blasted, blessed, blest, blinking, cursed, damn, damned, darn, dratted, hexes, ruddy). (various references)

Turkish

sinir bozucu (frustrating, infuriating, irritating, itching, nerve racking, nerve-wracking), rahatsız edici (annoying, besetting, disturbing, fraught, haunting, hot, inconvenient, irritant, irritating, noisy, plaguesome, rough, strident, uncomfortable, uneasy, unrestful, worrying), belâlı (bully, calamitous, difficult, hard bitten, plaguy, thorny, troublesome). (various references)

Ukrainian

огидний (abhorrent, abject, abominable, accursed, accurst, antipathetic, antipathetical, atrocious, beastly, bilious, brackish, brutal, carrion, damnable, damned, detestable, disgusting, dreadful, evil, execrable, filthy, ghoulish, grim, hanging, heinous, hideous, horrible, horrid, ill-favored, ill-favoured, loathful, loathsome, mawkish, mucky, nasty, nauseating, nauseous, nefandous, noisome, obnoxious, obscene, odious, offensive, poisonous, putrid, rank, repellent, repulsive, revolting, shocking, snotty, sordid, sour, stinking, underfoot, wicked), набридливий (annoying, bothersome, nagging, pestilent, wearisome, weary, worrisome). (various references)

Vietnamese 

rầy r� (awkward, troublesome). (various references)

Misspellings

"Pesky" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cesky, Eetzky, eskey, esky, Leski, Nevski, Pansky, pecky, peeky, peesy, Pelkey, penki, Penske, pesce, Pesch, pescy, peskey, pesty, Petkim, Piasky, Pinsky, pisk, piskey, pisky, Polskiej, Poski, Puska, Vescy. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: espy, keps, keys, pyes, skep, syke.

-2 letters: kep, key, pes, pye, sky, spy, yep, yes.

-3 letters: es, pe, ye.

+1 letter: pokeys, spikey.

+2 letters: keypads, passkey, peskily, pinkeys, punkeys.

+3 letters: copydesk, flyspeck, koupreys, kyphoses, passkeys, pinkeyes, pyknoses, spookery.

+4 letters: copydesks, flyspecks, paychecks, physicked, speakeasy, sylphlike.

+5 letters: cyberpunks, flyspecked, hokypokies, hyperlinks, karyotypes, keypunches, monkeypods, playmakers, skyscraper.