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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



78 words match “IRISH”

RAPPAREE n.
A wild Irish plunderer, esp. one of the 17th century; -- so called from his carrying a half-pike, called a rapary. [Written also raparee.]
RELINQUISH v.
quit; as, to relinquish a pursuit. We ought to relinquish such rites. Hooker. They placed Irish tenants upon the lands relinquished by the English. Sir J. Davies.
RUDE a.
ory in mode of treatment; -- said of literature, language, style, and the like. "The rude Irish books." Spenser. Rude am I in my speech. Shak. Unblemished by my rude translation. Dryden.
SAINT n.
. -- Saint Dabeoc's heath (Bot.), a heatherlike plant (Dabæcia polifolia), named from an Irish saint. -- Saint Distaff's Day. See under Distaff. -- Saint Elmo's fire, a luminious, flamelike appearance, sometimes seen in dark, tempestuous nights, at some prominent point on a ship, particularly at the masthead and the…
SAND-LOT a.
acteristic of, the policy or practices of the socialistic or communistic followers of the Irish agitator Denis Kearney, who delivered many of his speeches in the open sand lots about San Francisco; as, the sand-lot constitution of California, framed in 1879, under the influence of sand-lot agitation.…
SHAMROCK n.
A trifoliate plant used as a national emblem by the Irish. The legend is that St. Patrick once plucked a leaf of it for use in illustrating the doctrine of the trinity.
SHARPLY adv.
anner,; keenly; acutely. They are more sharply to be chastised and reformed than the rude Irish. Spenser. The soldiers were sharply assailed with wants. Hayward. You contract your eye when you would see sharply. Bacon.
SHILLALAH; SHILLELAH n.
dgel; -- so called from Shillelagh, a place in Ireland of that name famous for its oaks. [Irish] [Written also shillaly, and shillely.]
SO-SO a.
Neither very good nor very bad; middling; passable; tolerable; indifferent. In some Irish houses, where things are so-so, One gammon of bacon hangs up for a show. Goldsmith. He [Burns] certainly wrote some so-so verses to the Tree of Liberty. Prof. Wilson.
SPALPEEN n.
A scamp; an Irish term for a good-for-nothing fellow; -- often used in good-humored contempt or ridicule. [Colloq.]
SWADDLER n.
A term of contempt for an Irish Methodist. Shipley.
TEAGUE n.
An Irishman; -- a term used in contempt. Johnson.
TOUCHSTONE n.
ker. The foregoing doctrine affords us also a touchstone for the trial of spirits. South. Irish touchstone (Min.), basalt, the stone which composes the Giant's Causeway.
TROJAN a.
A native or inhabitant of Troy. Tim jumped like a Trojan from the bed. Finnegan's Wake (Irish song)
TRUMPET v.
They did nothing but publish and trumpet all the reproaches they could devise against the Irish. Bacon.
UNGRACIOUS a.
received; offensive; unpleasing; unacceptable; not favored. Anything of grace toward the Irish rebels was as ungracious at Oxford as at London. Clarendon. -- Un*gra"cious*ly, adv. -- Un*gra"cious*ness, n.
WAKE n.
of persons with a dead body, often attended with a degree of festivity, chiefly among the Irish. "Blithe as shepherd at a wake." Cowper. Wake play, the ceremonies and pastimes connected with a wake. See Wake, n., 3 (b), above. [Obs.] Chaucer.
WOLF n.
nees, supposed by some authors to be one of the ancestors of the St. Bernard dog. (b) The Irish greyhound, supposed to have been used formerly by the Danes for chasing wolves. (c) A dog bred between a dog and a wolf, as the Eskimo dog. -- Wolf eel (Zoöl.), a wolf fish. -- Wolf fish (Zoöl.), any one of several species…
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