IMP

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does imp mean? 

• IMP (noun)
  The noun IMP has 2 senses:

1. (folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous

2. one who is playfully mischievous

  Familiarity information: IMP used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IMP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(folklore) fairies that are somewhat mischievous

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

brownie; elf; gremlin; hob; imp; pixie; pixy

Hypernyms ("imp" is a kind of...):

faerie; faery; fairy; fay; sprite (a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers)

Domain category:

folklore (the unwritten lore (stories and proverbs and riddles and songs) of a culture)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imp"):

leprechaun (a mischievous elf in Irish folklore)

sandman (an elf in fairy stories who sprinkles sand in children's eyes to make them sleepy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

One who is playfully mischievous

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

imp; monkey; rapscallion; rascal; scalawag; scallywag; scamp

Hypernyms ("imp" is a kind of...):

child; fry; kid; minor; nestling; nipper; shaver; small fry; tiddler; tike; tyke; youngster (a young person of either sex)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "imp"):

brat; holy terror; little terror; terror (a very troublesome child)

 Context examples 

“The young imp cannot be found,” said Dr. Trevelyan; “the maid and the cook have just been searching for him.”

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What is that to thee, you ugly imp? said the prince haughtily, and rode on.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“That's tellings, my blessed infant,” she retorted, tapping her nose again, screwing up her face, and twinkling her eyes like an imp of supernatural intelligence.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Another chant from Hagar produced another apparition, not a lovely one, for with a bang an ugly black imp appeared and, having croaked a reply, tossed a dark bottle at Hugo and disappeared with a mocking laugh.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

However, I once caught a young male of three years old, and endeavoured, by all marks of tenderness, to make it quiet; but the little imp fell a squalling, and scratching, and biting with such violence, that I was forced to let it go; and it was high time, for a whole troop of old ones came about us at the noise, but finding the cub was safe (for away it ran), and my sorrel nag being by, they durst not venture near us.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

All looked colder and darker in that visionary hollow than in reality: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit: I thought it like one of the tiny phantoms, half fairy, half imp, Bessie's evening stories represented as coming out of lone, ferny dells in moors, and appearing before the eyes of belated travellers.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Ah! I see him now, it is that imp Tina who makes me a fool with my cap. Well, it is nothing, but see you, if this lesson goes not well, you too shall wear him.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)