a. [f. WAG sb.2 + -ISH1]
1. Of a person: Having the qualities of a wag; playfully mischievous. † Also, wanton, loose.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 240. And therefore is Loue said to be a childe, Because in choise he is often beguil’d, As waggish boyes in game themselues forsweare.
1607. Rowlands, Famous Hist., 13. Fair Hellen was a waggish wench of Greece.
1664. H. More, Apology, 562. Certainly some very waggish Master of the Ceremonies has taught you this ill manners.
1716. Gay, Trivia, II. 91. When waggish boys the stunted beesom ply.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., VI. ix. 120. If [the tree died] by being shaken or loosen’d at the first sprouting, by waggish People.
1756. Toldervy, Hist. Two Orphans, IV. 130. But, O fortune! what a waggish damsel art thou!
1822. Scott, Nigel, i. The stranger looked sternly at the waggish apprentice.
1836. Hor. Smith (title), The Tin Trumpet; or, Heads and Tails, for the Wise and the Waggish.
1874. Carpenter, Ment. Phys., I. vi. (1879), 307. A long series of ludicrous replies … spelled out … by the direction of waggish questioners.
1904. J. T. Fowler, Durham Univ., 65. Certain waggish undergraduates … sowed mustard seed after dark.
2. Pertaining to or characteristic of a wag. Of an act, speech, etc.: Done or made in a spirit of waggery or mischievous fun; prankish.
1589. Greene, Tullies Love, Wks. (Grosart), VII. 107. I pray you tell me whereof are womens hearts made?… Venus hearing hir son make such a waggish demaunde, beganne thus to reply.
1594. O. B., Quest. Profit Concern., 18. Had I bene complained of for doing shrewdnesses in the time of my waggish youth.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. iv. 160. You must forget to be a Woman: change … Feare, and Nicenesse … into a waggish courage.
1616. Chapman, trans. Musæus, Annot. H 5. The word vnhappie in our Language hath diuers Vnderstandings; as waggish or subtle, &c.
1617. R. White, Cupid’s Banishm., in Nichols, Progr. Jas. I. (1828), III. 287. Boye, leave your waggish wit; Putt up your arrowes in your quiver and bee gone.
1659. Wood, Life, 26 Sept. (O. H. S.), I. 283. Some of the company, who knew the design to be waggish, fell a laughing, and betray’d the matter.
1738. Pope, Epil. Sat., I. 17. And own, the Spaniard did a waggish thing, Who cropt our Ears, and sent them to the King.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, I. 165. The passing of the mouth of the Nebraska, therefore, was equivalent among boatmen to the crossing of the line among sailors, and was celebrated with like ceremonials of a rough and waggish nature.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., II. i. She … cried, with a waggish shake of her head: ‘Aha! Caught you spying, did I?’
1904. Athenæum, 20 Aug., 234/1. Mr. Tarkington writes in … a vein of waggish farce.
