Phooʹka or Pooka.
A spirit of most malignant disposition, who hurries people to their destruction. He sometimes comes in the form of an eagle, and sometimes in that of a horse, like the Scotch kelpie (q.v.). (Irish superstition.)
· 
· 
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.