A round, black, vulcanized rubber disk, used in hockey. It's one inch thick and three inches in diameter.

From now on, in moments of anger I can call it "The goatsucker." Thanks Webster 1913!
In netrek speak, a clueless player that flies a scout ship.
Comes from the variant of netrek hockey in which a completely passive scout ship (the lightest in the game) is pushed and pulled around with tractor beams in order to score a goal. Of course, shooting and destroying the puck (an admissible and occasionally useful move) is no great challenge, since it will not defend itself.
The impish faerie character in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, who provides the main vehicle of comedy. Also known as Robin Goodfellow, servent to the Lord of the Faeries - Oberon.

Especially remembered for delivering the closing of the play (V.i.423-438):

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumb'red here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call.
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

  1. A mouse with a crosshair. They are designed for use on a graphics tablet and generally have much more precision than your average mouse.
  2. The mouse formerly packed in with Apple iMac computers until Apple released the Apple Pro Mouse. See also hockey puck.

Puck is the tenth moon of the planet Uranus. This particular moon was named after a fairy who appeared in the Wiliam Shakespeare play " A Midsummer Night's Dream" (most of the moons of Uranus are named after Shakespearean characters). Uranus' other twenty moons are Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Belinda, 1986U10, Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Caliban, Stephano, Sycorax, Prospero, and Setebos.

This moon was discovered on December 30, 1985 by Stephen Synnott (he found it by analyzing data from Voyager 2). Stephen was no stranger to the field of moon discovery, as he previously discovered both Metis and Thebe by analyzing data fom the original Voyager space probe. This moon was discovered quickly enough for the Voyager 2 probe to have its schedule adjusted to get images of it (all of the other new moons found via Voyager 2 were discovered too late to adjust the schedule to properly photograph them).

Puck is a small round moon that orbits very quickly around Uranus. It reflects very little light, and is very difficult to spot (which is why we never found it until Voyager 2 flew by). It has a fairly close orbit, (it is six times closer to Uranus than our own moon is to us), but is so small that it wouldn't make much a a visual effect even if you could observe it from close by.

  • Equatorial radius 77 km
  • Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) 1.2073e-02
  • Mean distance from Uranus 86,010 km
  • Orbital period 0.761832 days
  • Mean orbital velocity 8.22 km/sec
  • Orbital eccentricity 0.000
  • Orbital inclination .31 degrees
  • Visual geometric albedo 0.07
  • Magnitude 20.2
You can view a picture of this moon at the following url.

http://www.solarviews.com/raw/uranus/puck.gif
A hero published by Marvel Comics. Puck was created by John Byrne and first appeared in Alpha Flight #1 in 1987.

The world of super heroes is full of people whose powers help them overcome physical handicaps. Daredevil swings above the Manhattan skyline despite being blind. Professor X or the Chief from the Doom Patrol fight evil despite being confined to wheelchairs. Sillouette from the New Warriors battled crime despite needing leg braces and crutches. Jericho of the Teen Titans was mute. And the list goes on. So in 1987, John Byrne provided comicdom with its first hero with dwarfism: Puck. Though comics had been filled for years with people of short stature (the golden age Atom or who could shrink themselves (the silver age Atom, Ant-Man or the Wasp), there had never been a hero who was actually a dwarf.

Born Eugene Milton Judd in Sakatoon, Saskatchewan, Puck traveled the world from an early age, seeing exotic locals and having exciting adventures. The young Judd was not born a dwarf it was revealed years later, but was actually a normal sized man. He traveled through India and fought bulls in Spain. He met and had an adventure with a man named Logan who would later become the mutant hero Wolverine, while he was still relatively young.

While on one of his adventures, Judd encountered a being of great evil, known as the Black Razaar. Black Razaar was a mystic being who possessed strange powers and wielded a black sword that caused its victims to lose six inches in height when they were struck with it. Judd realizing that he could not allow Razaar to roam free, sacrificed himself to create a prison for the magical villain. In the process, Judd lost enough height that to the world he appeared to be a dwarf.

For years, Judd adjusted to his new height and learned to use it to his advantage. Judd learded to perform acrobatic moves and to become a fierce opponent despite his diminutive stature. During a fight in a bar, Judd killed a man and was sent to prison for the crime. It was while in prison that Judd met James Hudson, a scientist who was organizing a superhuman team for the Canadian government. Hudson recognized Judd's abilities and got him paroled with the agreement that Judd would never kill again.

Judd trained with the second level team that Hudson had organized called Beta Flight, but during an attack by one of the Great Beasts of the North, Judd (who had adopted the name Puck) was called upon to help defend his homeland with Canada's premiere heroes Alpha Flight. Puck became an active member of the group and was part of a number of their adventures, despite not having any real super powers.

After the apparent death of James Hudson, Judd became romantically involved with Hudson's wife Heather who was the defacto leader of Alpha Flight. During this time, Black Razaar was set free and Judd regained his normal height, but also aged rapidly because his age had been retarded due to acting as Razaar's prison. After defeating Razaar, Judd retired for a time from Alpha Flight and returned to a normal life.

But Alpha Flight and its enemies did not allow Judd to retire for long. Mystic villains like the Dreamqueen and Llan the Sorcerer used Judd as a pawn against his former teammates. Judd was taken to other dimensions and tortured, eventually losing his sanity. He regained it for a time, was rescued by Alpha Flight and returned to Earth. Later, he lost his mind again and was captured by the Master, one of Alpha Flight's enemies and transformed into a mis-shapen giant.

Alpha Flight rescued Puck and was able to restore him, but at the cost of his natural height. Judd did gain incredible strength and the ability to have his skin act like rubber, making him more like his namesake, a hockey puck. Puck continues to this day as a member of Alpha Flight.

Puck (?), n. [OE. pouke; cf. OSw. puke, Icel. pUki an evil demon, W. pwca a hobgoblin. Cf. Poker a bugbear, Pug.]

1. (Mediæval Myth.)

A celebrated fairy, "the merry wanderer of the night;" -- called also Robin Goodfellow, Friar Rush, Pug, etc. Shak.

He meeteth Puck, whom most men call
Hobgoblin, and on him doth fall.
Drayton.

2. (Zoöl.)

The goatsucker. [Prov. Eng.]

 

© Webster 1913


Puck (?), n.

A disk of vulcanized rubber used in the game of hockey, as the object to be driven through the goals.

 

© Webster 1913

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