Adjective

(en adjective)

mischievous; of or befitting an imp.

* {{quote-book

, year=1897 , author=H. G. Wells , title=A Story of the Stone Age , chapter=1 citation , passage=Wild-eyed youngsters they were, with matted hair and little broad-nosed impish faces, covered (as some children are covered even nowadays) with a delicate down of hair.}}

* {{quote-book

, year=1942 , author=Virginia Woolf , title=The Death of the Moth, and other essays , chapter=20 citation , passage=But the antics of Mr. Moore, though impish and impudent, are, after all, so amusing and so graceful that the governess, it is said, sometimes hides behind a tree to watch.}}

Adjective

(er)

(informal) Impudent; impertinent; impertinently bold, often in a way that is regarded as endearing or amusing.

* 1899 , , Stalky & Co. , chaper 4:

"Shut up," said Harrison. "You chaps always behave as if you were jawin' us when we come to jaw you."

"You're a lot too cheeky ," said Craye.

* 1909 , , The Swoop! or How Clarence Saved England , chaper 7:

The Young Turks, as might have been expected, wrote in their customary flippant, cheeky style.