Search the Dictionary

any varieties, usually made of silk and worsted, - - used especially for women's dresses. Irish poplin, a fabric with silk warp and worsted weft, made in Ireland.

Whisky; especially, whisky illicitly distilled by the Irish peasantry. [Written also potheen, and potteen.]

The aperture in the iris; the sight, apple, or black of the eye. See the Note under Eye, and Iris. Pin-hole pupil (Med.), the pupil of the eye when so contracted (as it sometimes is in typhus, or opium poisoning) as to resemble a pin hole. Dunglison.

A wild Irish plunderer, esp. one of the 17th century; -- so called from his carrying a half-pike, called a rapary. [Written also raparee.]

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.

e and shape of the roach, but it has the dorsal fin farther back, a stouter body, and red irises. Called also redeye, roud, finscale, and shallow. A blue variety is called azurine, or blue roach.

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 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…

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.…

turn; as, the Saturnian year. Saturnian verse (Pros.), a meter employed by early Roman satirists, consisting of three iambics and an extra syllable followed by three trochees, as in the line: --Thê queen | wâs isn | thê kistch | ên eatîng | bread ând | honêy.

The gladen, and other species of Iris. Prior.

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.

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.

dgel; -- so called from Shillelagh, a place in Ireland of that name famous for its oaks. [Irish] [Written also shillaly, and shillely.]

because its spotted petals resemble the scales of a snake's head. Dr. Prior. Snake's-head iris (Bot.), an iridaceous plant (Hermodactylus tuberosus) of the Mediterranean region. The flowers slightly resemble a serpent's open mouth.

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.

A scamp; an Irish term for a good-for-nothing fellow; -- often used in good-humored contempt or ridicule. [Colloq.]

nata) having achenia armed with needlelike awns. -- Spanish nut (Bot.), a bulbous plant (Iris Sisyrinchium) of the south of Europe. -- Spanish potato (Bot.), the sweet potato. See under Potato. -- Spanish red, an ocherous red pigment resembling Venetian red, but slightly yellower and warmer. Fairholt. -- Spanish re…

A rainbow; an iris. Byron.

A term of contempt for an Irish Methodist. Shipley.