puny
adjectifnomattesté dans les dialogues
- Royaume-Uni//ˈpjuːni//
- États-Unis//ˈpjuni//
Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
adjectif
- 1
Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
You puny earthlings are no match for Ming the Merciless!
a puny attempt at an apology
I had forgot my ſelfe, am I not King? […] Is not the Kings name twenty thouſand names? / Arme arme, my name a puny ſubiect ſtrikes, / At thy great glorie, […]
And twentie of theſe punie lies Ile tell, / That men ſhall ſweare I haue diſcontinued ſchoole / About a twelue moneth: […]
- 2
(Frequently) ill; poorly, sickly.
- 3
obsolèteAlternative spelling of puisne. Inferior in rank; specifically, of a judge: junior.
Gadsbodkins, you puny Upſtart in the Law, to uſe me ſo, you Green Bag Carrier, you Murderer of unfortunate Cauſes, the Clerks Ink is ſcarce off of your fingers, you that newly come from Lamblacking the Judges ſhooes, and are not fit to wipe mine; […]
WHEN John firſt brought out the Bills, the Surprize of all the Family was unexpreſſible, at the prodigious Dimenſions of them; […] Fees to Judges, puny Judges, Clerks, Prothonotories, Philizers, Chirographers, Underclerks, Proclamators, Counſel, Witneſſes, Jury-men, Marſhals, Tipſtaffs, Cryers, Porters; […]
But if you think this Trade to baſe, / (Which ſeldom is the Dunce's Caſe) / Put on the Critick's Brow, and ſit / At Wills the puny Judge of Wit.
Many thought that he had altogether cut his own throat, and that he would have to take the first "puny" judgeship vacant.
- 4
obsolèteAlternative spelling of puisne. Coming later in time; secondary, subsequent.
- 5
obsolèteAlternative spelling of puisne. Not experienced; novice.
Étymologie
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *pós Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *pósti Proto-Italic *posti Old Latin poste Latin post Proto-Indo-European *íh₂ Latin ea Latin posteā Vulgar Latin *postius Old French puis Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *ǵn̥h₁tós Proto-Italic *gnātos Latin gnātus Latin nātus Old French né Old French puisné Middle French puisnébor. English puisne English puny PIE word *pós A respelling of puisne, from Anglo-Norman puisné (“later, more recent; junior; weakly”) [and other forms] and Middle French puisné (“born after (a specified person); younger, youngest; one who is born after (a specified person)”) (modern French puîné (“cadet (born after a sibling); a cadet (someone born after a sibling)”)), from puis (“after; since”) + né (“born”). Puis is derived from Old French pois (“after; since”), from Vulgar Latin *postius (“afterward”), from Latin posteā (“afterwards; hereafter; thereafter; next, then”), from post (“after; since”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards”)) + ea (“these (things)”); and né from Latin nātus (“born”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”).
nom
- 1
archaïqueAn inferior person; a subordinate; also, an insignificant person.
·
·
[T]hou chuff, thou puny, thou got in the peasestraw thou losel, thou chitterling, thou spawn of a rebel, thou dykedropt, […]
- 2
obsolèteA younger person; a junior.
[A] law that the eldeſt or firſt-borne child ſhall ſucceede and inherite all: where nothing is reſerved for punies, but obedience: […] Theſe vaine ſhadowes of our religion, which are ſeene in ſome of theſe examples, witnes the dignitie and divinity thereof.
For a worthy man is wounded more deeply by his own Generalls neglect, then by his enemies ſword: […] Who had rather others ſhould make a ladder of his dead corps to ſcale a city by it, then a bridge of him whileſt alive for his punies to give him the Goe-by, and paſſe over him to preferment.
- 3
obsolèteAlternative spelling of puisne. A person who is not experienced; a beginner, a novice.
Nay then I ſee thou'rt but a puny in the ſubtill Miſtery of a woman: […]
- 4
obsolèteAlternative spelling of puisne. A puisne or junior judge.
- 5
obsolèteA new student at a school, university, the Inns of Court, etc.; a junior.
Formes
- pluriel
- punies
- comparatif
- punier
- superlatif
- puniest
puny · Of inferior significance, size, or strength; ineffective, small, weak.
pup · A young dog, wolf, fox, seal, bat or shark, or the young of…Pup · A white dwarf star, the secondary star in the binary star…PUP · Paid up