■ noun a mischievous child.
↘a small, mischievous devil or sprite.
■ verb repair a damaged feather in (the wing of a trained hawk) by attaching part of a new feather.
Origin
OE (in ME denoting a descendant of the devil or an evil person): ~a , ~e 'young shoot, scion', from ~ian 'to graft', based on Gk emphuein 'to ~lant'.