larkyadj.

1841 Punch 25 Dec. 278/2 The old girl has her two nieces home for the holidays—devilish handsome, larky girls.

1847 Punch 6 Nov. 178/1 A larky young peer would think it a great joke to be quizzed in Punch.

1851 H. Mayo On Truths Pop. Superstit. (ed. 2) 133 When the Devil is larky, he solicits the witches to dance round him.

1866 Spectator 24 Nov. 1301/1 An under-bred, ignorant, larky young naval lieutenant.

1885 ‘F. Anstey’ Tinted Venus 24 ‘I look larky, don't I’, said poor Tweddle, dolefully.

1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay ii. ii. §1 Never saw her so larky. This has bucked her up something wonderful.

1911 E. M. Clowes On Wallaby ii. 35 The young people..are loud and larky and irreverent.

1912 D. H. Lawrence Let. 6 Mar. (1932) 28 Every blessed place was full of men, in the larkiest of spirits.

1958 Vogue July 57/1 Osborne has shocked the stage with a real-life genus of larky lower-middle-class humanists, and given them the heroic status of being worried.

1967 Listener 8 June 747/2 A character in whom humility and submissiveness are combined with a larky humour.

1974 Listener 21 Nov. 673/1 The only disk jockey who sounds genuinely happy... Larky, insouciant and very funny.

1925 Blackwood's Mag. July 80/2 [Rugby School] The ‘swells’ were allowed to wear ‘larky’ waistcoats, i.e., waistcoats of various hues often with flowery designs embroidered on them.