E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Saucy.
Rakish, irresistible; or rather that care-for-nobody, jaunty, daring behaviour which has won for many of our regiments the term as a compliment. It is also applied metaphorically to some inanimate things, as “saucy waves,” which dare attack the very moon; the “saucy world,” which dares defy the very gods; the “saucy mountains,” “winds,” “wit,” and so on.
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“But still the little petrel was saucy as the waves.”
