the adjective has its origin with a character from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck is "that merry wanderer of the night." He is a shape-shifter and mischief-maker. He answers to the king of the fairies.
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William Shakespeare didn't totally invent the character who existed in Engish folklore. The traditional version of Puck was more malicious than the whimsical Shakespearean comedy character. The older Puck was more of an evil spirit or demon.
Back in Medieval England, this hobgoblin was known as the puke or pouke. (No etymological connect to modern English "puke.") Those Medieval names go back to the Old Norse pūki, meaning "devil."
Shakespeare's much lighter Puck has stuck over the years and became the adjective that was appearing regularly in English texts in the 1800s.
We also have the hockey puck disk made of rubber that serves the same function in hockey as a ball does in ball games. This origin is more obscure. It may be related related to the verb to puck (poke) used in the game of hurling for striking or pushing the ball.
The shape of the sports puck is the origin for several other uses of the word.
A puck is also a graphics tablet accessory that is mouse-like and resembles the hockey puck and can detect absolute position and rotation.
The coffee grounds inside an espresso machine portafilter are also called a puck, because of its shape.
It is also sometimes used to describe a kind of a hard shaving soap that is used with a shaving brush and also resembles the hockey puck shape.
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