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单词 irish
释义

Irishadj.adv.n.

Brit. /ˈʌɪrɪʃ/, U.S. /ˈaɪrɪʃ/
Forms:

α. Old English Yrisc, early Middle English Irisc, early Middle English Irreisc, early Middle English Yreis, Middle English Hiressche, Middle English Hirisse, Middle English Hirisshe, Middle English Hyrische, Middle English Hyrysshe, Middle English Iresch, Middle English Iresche, Middle English Iress, Middle English Iresse, Middle English Iressh, Middle English Iresshe, Middle English Iris, Middle English Irisch, Middle English Irische, Middle English Irise, Middle English Irisse, Middle English Irissh, Middle English Irisshe, Middle English Irys, Middle English Iryssh, Middle English Jresch, Middle English Jrys, Middle English Yres, Middle English Yresse, Middle English Yressh, Middle English Yriche, Middle English Yris, Middle English Yrisch, Middle English Yrischs (transmission error), Middle English Yrisse, Middle English Yrissh, Middle English Yrys, Middle English Yrysch, Middle English Yryssh, Middle English Yrysshe, Middle English–1500s Irysh, Middle English–1500s Iryshe, Middle English–1500s Irysshe, Middle English–1500s Yrishe, Middle English–1500s Yrisshe, Middle English–1600s Irishe, Middle English– Irish, 1500s Iresh, 1500s Ireshe, 1500s Yresshe, 1500s Yrish, 1600s Ireish, 1600s Yerish, 1900s– I'ish (U.S. regional); Scottish pre-1700 Iresh, pre-1700 Irich, pre-1700 Iriche, pre-1700 Iriesche, pre-1700 Irieshe, pre-1700 Irische, pre-1700 Irishe, pre-1700 Irrische, pre-1700 Irysche, pre-1700 Iyrish, pre-1700 Yrische, pre-1700 Yrish, pre-1700 Yrishe, pre-1700 Yrysch, pre-1700 1700s Irisch, pre-1700 1700s– Irish; also Irish English 1800s Eeerish (Wexford), 2000s– Airish (northern).

β. Scottish pre-1700 Iersche, pre-1700 Irche, pre-1700 Irs, pre-1700 Irsch, pre-1700 Irsche, pre-1700 Yrsche.

Origin: From a proper name, combined with an English element; perhaps modelled on early Scandinavian lexical items. Etymons: proper name Īrland , Ireland , -ish suffix1.
Etymology: < Ir- (in Old English Īrland, early form of the name of Ireland, a north-west European island to the west of Great Britain, and the smaller of the two large islands of the British Isles; compare Old English (rare) Īras , plural, inhabitants of Ireland: see note below) + -ish suffix1, perhaps after early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic Írskr , adjective, Old Swedish irsker , adjective (also as noun denoting traded cloth) (Swedish irisk , adjective)). In some Middle English forms influenced by Anglo-Norman yreis, irreis, Anglo-Norman and Old French ireis (Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French irois ; compare also Middle French irlandois (1567; French irlandais )), noun (first half of the 12th cent. denoting a weapon, 12th cent. denoting the inhabitants of Ireland, 1230 or earlier in Anglo-Norman denoting the Irish language) and adjective (c1177). Compare Middle Dutch iersc , iersch , adjective and noun (Dutch iers ; compare also Middle Dutch ierlantsch (Dutch †ierlands )), Middle Low German īrisch , adjective, German irisch , adjective (1777 or earlier; compare also †irländisch , †irländisch , designating the country and its inhabitants (1573 or earlier)). Compare post-classical Latin Irescus (a1034; also Iriscus , Ireschius (mid 13th cent. in a British sources designating a battleaxe); also Irensis (a1098 in a British Source)). Compare Erse adj. and discussion at that entry. Compare Scottish adj. 1. The English name of the island (and later also of any of several political entities on this island) is Ireland (formerly also †Irland ; Old English Īrland , Īraland , Yrrland , Middle English Irland , Yrlonde , Ireland , etc.); compare Middle Dutch īrlant , hierlant (Dutch Ierland ), Middle High German Irlant (German Irland ), Old Icelandic Írland , Old Swedish, Swedish Irland . (In Old English (and occasionally in Middle English) forms of the name Scotland were also used to denote Ireland: see discussion at Scot n.1) Compare Anglo-Norman Irland , Irlonde , Irlaunde , etc. (13th cent.; < Middle English, perhaps with some influence from early Scandinavian). The name Ireland was originally primarily geographical in its connotation, with the island containing a varying number of political entities at different times. In the 16th-cent. Tudor conquest led to the establishment of the Kingdom of Ireland (although at that time the English monarchs had little actual control over most the island); this was later subsumed into the United Kingdom by the Act of Union of 1801. A large part of the island gained independence, initially as the Irish Free State in 1922 (now the Republic of Ireland ; see note at Irish Free State n. at Compounds 3); six counties in Ulster remain part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland (compare Six Counties n. at six adj. and n. Compounds 2). The name Ireland is now chiefly used to refer to the independent state; but also to the entire island and both polities on it (compare note at A. 1 on the equivalent uses of the adjective). Compare the following early examples:OE Acct. Voy. Ohthere & Wulfstan in tr. Orosius Hist. (Tiber.) (1980) i. i. 16 On þæt steorbord him bið ærest Iraland.OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.iv) anno 1052 Sona com Harold eorl of Irlande mid his scipum to Sæfern muðan.c1300 St. Patrick's Purgatory (Laud) l. 2 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 199 Seint paterik..makede ane put in Irlonde Þat seint patrike purgatorie is icleoped. ▸ a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 325 Þat ilond is from Irlond [L. ab Hibernia] and from Bretayne þre dayes seillynge. Although the exact phonological development is uncertain, the element Ir- in the name of Ireland is ultimately < Early Irish Ériu , the name of the island (n -stem; Irish Éire ), cognate with Welsh Iwerddon , of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately a compound of < the Indo-European base of ancient Greek ἐπι- epi- prefix + the either the Indo-European base of Old Icelandic vari water (with reference to the sea) or the Indo-European base of were v. (with reference to defensible land), or perhaps ultimately < the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek πίειρα (feminine of πίων ) (of land) fat, rich (compare the name of Πιερία : see Pierian adj.), Sanskrit pīvarī fat (feminine of pīvan ; compare pi- , pī- to swell); compare also (from a variant of the same base) Early Irish íriu earth, land. Compare the discussion by G. Isaac in Ériu 59 (2009) 49-55. The Celtic base is reflected in post-classical Latin Hiverion- , Hiverio (3rd cent. in an isolated attestation), Hiberion- , Hiberio (5th cent.). Compare also the Hellenistic Greek ethnonym Ἰουερνoi (Ptolemy), which apparently reflects the Celtic base of Early Irish Érainn , self-designation of the inhabitants of Ireland (in early Irish literature), ultimately < the same base as the place name Ériu . Compare also (apparently < the Celtic base of the ethnonym) classical Latin Iūverna , post-classical Latin Iverne (c400; compare classical Latin Hibernia : see Hibernian adj.), ancient Greek and Hellenistic Greek Ἰέρνη , Hellenistic Greek Ἰουερνία (Ptolemy), all denoting the country. A recent alternative suggestion that the word was originally a place name derived from a word for copper in a Mediterranean Semitic language (compare Akkadian wer’ium , er’ium copper), and perhaps given by Phoenician traders in allusion to the most important commodity bought from Ireland (compare the similar suggestion discussed at Britain n.1; see further T. Vennemann in Sprachwissensch. 23 (1998) 461–9) is unlikely on phonological grounds. The oblique forms corresponding to the modern Irish nominative Éire are Éireann (genitive) and Éirinn (dative; > English Erin , a poetic and literary name for Ireland); compare Scottish Gaelic Èirinn (nominative and dative) Ireland. On the use of Eire as a name in English compare the note at Irish Free State n. at Compounds 3. In Old English the usual word for the inhabitants of Ireland is Scottas (see Scot n.1 and discussion at that entry); the ethnonym Īras (plural) is rare (only one attestation (see quot. OE) other than as a (genitive) element in the compound Īraland , itself a rare variant of the place name: see note above) and is probably < Ir- (in Irland ), perhaps after early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic Írar (plural); itself probably < Ír- (in Írland )). Compare also Dutch Ier (17th cent.), German Ire (18th cent. or earlier; compare also †Irländer (1683 or earlier)), Swedish irer (1640, chiefly historical), Danish Irer , †Irrer (17th cent.), apparently representing more recent formations from the place name. Compare:OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xx. 198 He ferde ða geond eal yrrland, and scotland, bodiende ða ðing þe he geseah... Ferde ða twelf gear swa bodiende, betwux yrum and scottum. Also attested early as a surname: Herueius Yrich (1191), Ric' le Irishe (1255); compare also Ricardus Ireis (1169), although it is unclear whether this is to be interpreted as showing the Anglo-Norman or the Middle English word. With sense B. 5 compare Scot n.1 4.
A. adj. (and adv.)
1.
a. Of a person: native to Ireland; that is a citizen of Ireland; (also) descended from emigrants from Ireland to another country, esp. the United States or Australia (cf. Irish-American n., Irish-Australian adj.).Originally referring to the Celtic inhabitants of Ireland, as distinguished from English settlers (cf. quots. 1537, a15991). Over the course of the 17th cent. the descendants of the original English settlers began increasingly to be called Irish in contrast to more recent English and Scottish settlers, esp. in the north (cf. quot. 1641 at sense B. 1a). Since the establishment of an independent Irish state in 1922, the adjective is frequently applied with reference to that state in contrast with Northern Ireland (cf. Northern Irish adj.), but use referring to the whole of the island of Ireland also remains common. A number of distinguishing forms have arisen out of these contrasts and others: see the words listed at sense B. 1a, many of which are also used adjectivally.Recorded earliest in Irishman n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > the Irish > [adjective]
IrishOE
Ersea1464
Milesiana1599
Irishy1845
Oirish1886
OE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Tiber. B.i) anno 1055 Hig gegaderadan ða mycle fyrde mid ðam yriscan mannan & mid Walkynne.
c1275 (?c1250) Owl & Nightingale (Calig.) (1935) l. 322 (MED) Þu chaterest so doþ on irish [a1300 Jesus Oxf. yris] prost.
c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) l. 1290 (MED) Horn gan to schupe draȝe Wiþ his yrisse [v.r. yrisshe] felaȝes.
c1330 Horn Child 181 in J. Hall King Horn (1901) 181 (MED) Þe irise ost was long & brade.
c1440 (?a1400) Morte Arthure l. 3934 (MED) Þe kynge comly ouerkeste..þe Iresche kynges.
?c1450 Life St. Cuthbert (1891) l. 64 Of auncetry In yres kynges mast worthy.
a1470 in T. Twiss Black Bk. Admiralty (1871) I. 470 (MED) Nomaner man gyve no reproche to none other..be he Frenshe, Englissh, Walsh, or Irissh.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 166 (MED) Consydyr ye that youre yrysshe enemys ne hare auncestres..was trewe to you.
1537 in State Papers Henry VIII (1834) II. 449 The pore Englishe erth tillers in the English pale cannot skyll upon penury nor wredchidnes, as the Irishe tenantes doo sustayne.
1552 King Edward VI Chron. & Polit. Papers (1966) (modernized text) 151 One George Paris..who had been a practiser between the Earl of Desmond and other Irish Lords and the French King.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 47 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) Other great houses there bee of the old English in Ireland, which..are now growne as Irish, as O-Hanlons breech.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 61 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) Benefices..of so small profite in these Irish Countreyes, thorough the ill husbandrie of the Irish people which doe inhabite them.
1612 J. Davies Discouerie Causes Ireland 14 The Irish Lords did onely promise to become Tributaries to King Henry the second. And such as pay onely Tribute..are not properlie Subiects but Soueraignes.
1641 T. Creamor Gun-powder-plot in Ireland sig. A2 Hee met with one Maggennis an Irish Gentleman.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland xii, in Tracts (1769) 363 The priests are chosen for the most part out of old Irish gentry.
1708 Boston News-let. 29 Nov. 4/2 (advt.) Ran-away from his Master,..an Irish Lad call'd Darby Ragan, aged about 17 years.
1763 D. Hume Let. 19 Sept. in Rep. on Ossian (1805) 7 A very ingenious Irish gentleman.
1782 E. Burke (title) Letter to a peer of Ireland on the penal laws against Irish Catholics.
1805 J. Sibley Let. 10 Apr. in Amer. State Papers: Indian Affairs (1832) I. 727 Both which were introduced by an Irish Pennsylvanian.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvii Scattered over all Europe were to be found brave Irish generals, dexterous Irish diplomatists, Irish Counts, Irish Barons.
1887 Westm. Rev. June 280 When he assures us that these Belfast rowdies are the most intelligent of the Irish people, we take leave to exercise our own judgment a little.
1921 N.Y. Times 6 Sept. 14/1 De Valera spoke..of the possibility of submitting Anglo-Irish agreements to the Irish people as a whole.
1959 K. Tynan Let. 26 June (1994) iv. 243 They stuck six inches of bandaid on the beautiful, hideous Irish lady's scalp.
1987 T. Wolfe Bonfire of Vanities ii. 35 An Irish kid from up in Woodlawn.
2001 Sun 27 Jan. 71/1 The man in charge of Wales knows the tour will focus the minds of British and Irish players, who want to impress him.
†b. Chiefly Scottish. Designating a native, esp. Gaelic-speaking, inhabitant of the Scottish Highlands or Islands. Cf. sense A. 3b, Scot n.1 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > Scotland > [adjective] > highlands
highland1450
Irishc1543
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > British nation > Scots nation > [adjective] > parts of Scotland
westland1488
Irishc1543
Scottish-Irish?1593
Gallovidian1632
highland1698
Shetlandic1815
Galwegian1870
teuchter1967
c1543 in Bannatyne Misc. (1827) I. 10 The names of all the Yrische lordes of Scotland, commonly callit the Reddshanckes.
1548 W. Patten Exped. Scotl. Pref. sig. b.i .iiii. thousande Irishe Archers brought by therle of Arguile.
1597 in J. Grant Hist. Burgh & Parish Schools Scotl. (1876) 417 [The master of the grammar school of Glasgow to catechise his] Irische scholleris.
1641 R. Baillie Let. 20 Aug. (1841) I. 369 This equalitie Mr. Murdoch urged and refused to preach to the Irish congregation bot day about.
1652 Rec. Dingwall Presb. (Sc. Hist. Soc.) 247 The contributione allotted to the Irishe boyes.
1703 in A. Mitchell Inverness Kirk-session Rec. (1902) 43 He that Catechises the Irish people.
1763 MS Ayr Presbytery Reg. 31 Aug. in Sc. National Dict. (at cited word) Every Minister who sent their Collections for Irish Students.
2.
a. Of or belonging to Ireland or Irish people; (of a product, item, etc.) manufactured in Ireland; of a material, pattern, or design typical or distinctive of Ireland.Recorded earliest in Irish Sea n. at Compounds 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > Ireland > [adjective]
Irishc1325
Hibernian1632
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > the Irish > [adjective] > relating to
Irishc1325
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 3183 (MED) Out of þe dragons mouþe tueye leomes þer stode..Þe oþer adde seue branches..& toward þe yrisse [a1400 Trin. Cambr. hyrische] se westward euene drowe.
1448 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (Arms) l. 1 in K. Brunner Mittelengl. Vers-roman über Richard Löwenherz (1913) 134 (MED) A scharpe Irissh knyf.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 498/2 Coyle out the dandyprattes and Yrisshe pence.
c1571 E. Campion Two Bks. Hist. Ireland (1963) ii. viii. 111 The Irishe impositions of quinio and lyvery, cartinges, cariages, lodinges.
1581 J. Derricke Image Irelande ii. sig. Eiijv His skirtes be verie shorte, with pleates set thicke about, And Irishe trouzes more to put, their straunge protractours out.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) 49 Guilded leather with which they use to imbroyder their Irish Iackets.
1612 T. Dekker If it be not Good ii. i. 44 Welsh harpes, Irish bag-pipes, Iewes trompes, and french kitts..their dambd catter-wralling, Frighted me away.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland (1691) 75 The Interest must enflame the price of Irish Commodities, and consequently give to other Nations the means of underselling.
1701 London Gaz. No. 3756/15 Irish Usquebagh..to be sold in full Quart Bottles.
1735–6 S.-Carolina Gaz. 27 Dec.–3 Jan. 3/2 Good Irish Beef in barrels and Tierces, Irish Potatoes, pickled Herrings.
1788 V. Knox Winter Evenings II. 82 Choleric orators in the British and Irish parliaments.
1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 21/1 The Irish round towers are now generally ascribed to an ecclesiastical origin.
1861 I. M. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. xxxii. 808 Irish butter sold in London is all salted, but is generally good.
1898 G. B. Rawlings Story Brit. Coinage 135 The last Irish coinage took place under George IV, when pennies and halfpennies were struck..1823.
1920 World's Work Oct. 549/2 Advocates of Irish independence had expected more from the Democrats, apparently, than from the Republicans.
1944 T. S. C. Dagg Hockey in Ireland viii. 188 Although virtually junior, it represented Ulster in the final rounds of the Irish senior cup, a very fine feat.
1974 D. Seaman Bomb that could Lip-read vii. 60 Irish politics were beyond him.
2004 Flair July 28/1 Favourites include bacon and cabbage,..and soda bread with Irish butter.
b. spec. Designating a cloth, fabric, or textile produced or manufactured in Ireland, or (occasionally) an item of clothing made from such a material, as Irish frieze, Irish poplin, Irish tweed, etc. Cf. Irish linen n. at Compounds 3.
ΚΠ
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xv. lxxiv. 768 Also venemous beestes fleen Irysshe wolle [1495 de Worde yryssh woll, 1582 Bateman Irish wooll] and skynnes and felles of bestes of Irlonde.
a1450–1500 ( Libel Eng. Policy (1926) l. 659 Irish wollen and lynyn cloth.
a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) iii. 131 I can make good mantyls, and good Irysh fryce.
1586 Worcs. Inventory in J. West Village Rec. (1962) iv. 111 A blew Irish rugge coverlett.
1612 H. Peacham Gentlemans Exercise ii. 136 December must bee..cladde in Irish rugge, or course freeze.
1698 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) IV. 432 The Flanderkins have laid a duty of 3 guilders upon every £100 of Irish wool that is imported there.
1751 M. Delany Autobiogr. & Corr. (1862) 2nd Ser. III. 34 I have bought for my mourning a dark grey Irish poplin sack.
1786 Morning Post 7 Oct. (advt.) Irish Poplins and Tabbinets, calculated for the most elegant demi-saison and Winter Dresses.
1813 J. Austen Let. 15 Sept. (1995) 219 Very pretty English poplins at 4.3—Irish D° at 6.0.
1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. III. 566 The curtains are embroidered on blue satin and white watered Irish poplin.
1892–3 T. Eaton & Co. Catal. Fall–Winter 33/1 Boys' Overcoats... In Scotch, English and Irish tweeds.
1909 J. Joyce Let. 17 Nov. (1966) II. 264 Irish tweeds, Donegals and suitings.
1924 A. D. H. Smith Porto Bello Gold ix. 115 Gaudy shirts of calico and round-jackets of Irish frieze.
1969 R. T. Wilcox Dict. Costume (1970) 198/1 Loden, a waterproof cloth resembling Irish frieze.
2009 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 7 Sept. s1 She wears her white hair long past her shoulders, topped by a flat cap of Irish tweed.
3.
a. Designating the Celtic language of Ireland (see sense B. 2a), or the words and other linguistic features constituting it; (of literary compositions, speeches, etc.) written or spoken in this language.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Celtic > Irish
Irisha1387
Ersea1464
Irish Celtic1759
Gaeilge1964
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 345 Me seith þat þese [read þis] Gathleus made þe Irische langage [L. Hibernicam linguam composuit] and cleped hit Gathelaf, as it were a langage i-gadered of alle langages and tonges.
a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) 137 In Scotlande they haue two sondry speches. In..the part ioynyng to Ierland, that speche is muche lyke the Iryshe speche.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 24, in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) I know not whether the wordes bee English or Irish.
1605 R. Verstegan Restit. Decayed Intelligence i. 1 The Irish language..is..vtterly vnacquainted with the names of England and of Englishmen.
1683 H. Reilly Let. 10 Jan. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) V. 377 The Translator..was not very well skilld in the Irish Tongue.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Tory. (A cant term, derived, I suppose, from an Irish word signifying a savage.)
1763 in Rep. on Ossian (1805) App. 18 The Irish manuscripts in the duke of Chandos's library.
1816 W. Scott Return to Ulster in Wks. VIII. 166 (note) In ancient Irish poetry, the standard of Fion, or Fingal, is called the Sun-burst.
1828 T. C. Croker Fairy Legends & Trad. S. Ireland II. 17 The Irish word Merrow..answers exactly to the English mermaid.
1845 J. O'Donovan Gram. Irish Lang. 58 Eclipsis in Irish Grammar may be defined the suppression of the sounds of certain radical consonants, by prefixing others of the same organ.
1884 J. Rhŷs Celtic Brit. App. 283 The Irish word was caill, a wood.
1942 J. Grenfell Let. 11 Oct. in Darling Ma (1989) 372 Tell him I'm enjoying the Irish language enormously.
1959 C. L. Wrenn Word & Symbol (1967) 24 It would seem..that the Irish word [cros] came into Old English rather through Scandinavianised Irish settlers than direct.
2005 Kerryman 11 Aug. (South Kerry Plus section) 4/1 A vacancy exists in the Comhchoiste for a Cúntóir Teanga, working on promoting the Irish language among national school children outside the Gaeltacht area.
†b. Chiefly Scottish. Designating the Celtic language spoken in the Scottish Highlands and Islands; (also) of or belonging to this language. See also sense B. 2b, Erse adj. 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Celtic > Scottish
Erse1425
Irish1554
Scotch1633
Scots-Irish1652
Scotic1707
Scotch Gaelic1776
Scottish Gaelic1801
Scots Gaelic1820
1554 D. Lindsay Dialog Experience & Courteour i. 628 in Wks. (1931) I Had Sanct Ierome bene borne in tyll Argyle, In to Yrische toung his bukis had done compyle.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 86 The rest of the Scottis..vse thair alde Irishe toung.
a1639 J. Spottiswood Hist. Church Scotl. (1655) 9 We oft finde the Scots called Irishes, like as we yet term commonly our Highlandmen, in regard they speak the Irish language.
1683 in J. Wilson Reg. Synod of Dunblane (1877) 198 To turn the Doxologie into Irish meetre betwixt it and the next Synod.
1754 E. Burt Lett. N. Scotl. I. viii. 190 The Irish Tongue was..lately..universal even in many Parts of the Lowlands.
1782 Caledonian Mercury 11 May John Fletcher, born in the parish of Glenorchy..speaks the Irish tongue.
1820 Edinb. Ann. Reg. 1816 9 p. ccxxv To prefer hopeful students from the Highlands, and those who could speak the Irish tongue, to bursaries.
4. Designating plants and animals native to, originating in, or associated with Ireland. See also Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
a1450–1500 ( Libel Eng. Policy (1926) l. 662 (MED) Skynnes of oter, squerel, and Irysh hare.
1553 J. Bale Vocacyon f. 32 For ywys there is yet some moneie to be paied, and an Irish hobby also by promise.
1575 T. Churchyard 1st Pt. Chippes f. 75 Or Irysh hobby fayre and fat I would not haue beleeued that.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) v. ii. 105 'Tis like the howling of Irish Wolues against the Moone. View more context for this quotation
1631 B. Jonson Staple of Newes 4th Intermean 55 in Wks. II The fine Madrigall-man, in rime, to haue runne him o' the Countrey, like an Irish rat.
1732 R. Bradley Gentleman & Farmer's Guide for Improvem. of Cattle (ed. 2) 265 A Turk for the Sire, a Scotch Powny, or the Irish Hobby, for Dam.
1794 G. Culley Observ. Live Stock (ed. 2) 166 I shall beg leave to add a few words on the Irish Sheep; a pretty large sample of which I saw at the great fair of Ballinasloe.
1827 Gardener's Mag. 2 241 The Irish broom is very remarkable, and seems to be really a different species from Cytisus scoparius.
1861 Jrnl. Soc. Arts 22 Feb. 219/1 Crossing these hair-bearing ewes with an Irish ram.
1891 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 26 Nov. 447/1 The chief among all Ivies is the Irish Ivy, which has, and probably now does, clothe more old castles..and roofs and gable ends than any other creeping plant in existence.
1905 J. E. Rogers Tree Bk. 106 The Irish juniper, one of the most popular varieties has a tapering habit, very narrow like a miniature Lombardy poplar.
1956 S. H. Bell Erin's Orange Lily vi. 98 Some of them are as long dead and departed as the Irish razor-back pig.
1984 F. W. P. Bolger Memories Old Home Place 25/1 Seed potato certification began in 1916, when a few strains of Irish cobbler and Green Mountain were found to be free of viral diseases.
2004 Sporting Gun Mar. 25/2 With all of Northern Ireland's leading Irish Hare ecologists against her.., the legal decision is no surprise.
5.
a. Characteristic or typical of Irish people, life, or culture. In earlier use frequently with derogatory connotations, esp. of foolishness.In quot. 1589 with allusion to sense B. 4.as Irish as Paddy's pig: see Paddy's pig n. at paddy n.2 Compounds 2. to weep Irish: see weep v. 2.
ΚΠ
c1475 (c1450) P. Idley Instr. to his Son (Cambr.) (1935) ii. B. l. 27 (MED) The heere..hangeth downe to the browe beforn Like to an hors toppe of the Irisshe facion.
1536–7 Act 28 Hen. VIII in R. Bolton Statutes Ireland (1621) 130 That also no woman vse or weare any kyrtell, or cote..couched ne layd with vsker, after the Irish fashion.
1589 J. Lyly Pappe with Hatchet B iij We would show them an Irish tricke, that when they thinke to winne the game with one man [etc.].
a1604 M. Hanmer Chron. Ireland 57 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) Hee went into France, and made them Cabanes, after the Irish manner, in stead of Monasteries.
?1682 H. Care Eng. Liberties 106 Silly, Servile, yet conceited and Cruel, Creatures altogether of an Irish understanding.
1689 R. Cox Hibernia Anglicana: Pt. 1 239 A scoffing and ludibrious Answer was returned, with much boasting, after the Irish manner.
1690 T. Brown Late Converts Exposed 34 No Mr. Bays, our understandings are not altogether so Irish, as to be thus impos'd upon.
1720 Aristotle's Last Legacy (new ed.) 117 An Irish Earl (who also had an Irish Understanding) Being at Court, pulled out his Comb to put his Perugue in order.
1725 J. Swift Wood the Iron-monger in Wks. (1735) II. 364 They laught at such an Irish Blunder, To take the Noise of Brass for Thunder.
1777 H. L. Thrale Diary June in Thraliana (1942) I. 81 He did examine..everything in short with an Impudence truly Irish.
?1800 New Festival of Wit sig. E Daly of Dublin, having lost his dog, ordered it to be advertised as thus, ‘half black, half white, and half liver colour’; so that, according to Irish philosophy, a dog has three halves.
1813 W. Dunlap Mem. G. F. Cooke I. iv. 63 I doubt not that his dinner with the Irish manager was a roaring set-to, a full and convincing proof of what is called Irish hospitality.
1826 Lancet 15 July 505/2 This duty, I soon observed, was performed consistently with Irish ideas of regularity.
1893 Dict. National Biogr. XXXIV. 177/2 His novels will, no doubt, be remembered for their genuine Irish raciness.
1919 Jrnl. Amer. Irish Hist. Soc. 18 166 We may assume safely that, with traditional Irish generosity, it was liberal in the extreme.
1958 B. Behan Borstal Boy ii. 147 I admire you, for sticking up for your china, Paddy, but don't let that old Irish temper of yours run away in future.
1998 Independent on Sunday 15 Feb. (Real Life section) 2/7 The atmosphere in our house was never completely Irish.
2009 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 7 Nov. j5 The Heart & Crown Irish Pubs are all about genuine Irish hospitality.
b. slang. humorous (now usually considered offensive).
(a) Modifying the names of fruit to designate a potato, as Irish apple, Irish apricot, Irish grape, Irish lemon, etc. Cf. Irish fossil n. at Compounds 3. rare after 1970s.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > root vegetables > potato
potato root1583
pratie1749
Murphy1750
tater1759
pomme de terre1776
Irish apricot1785
tatie1788
tattiec1800
spud1845
aloo1916
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Irish apricots, potatoes; it is a common joke against the Irish vessels to say they are loaded with fruit and timber, that is, potatoes and broomsticks.
1846 ‘Lord Chief Baron’ Swell's Night Guide (new ed.) 122/2 Irish apricots, potatoes.
1847 Farmer's Mag. May 425/2 It is called ‘the root of evil’—‘the Irish plum’, and has been pronounced by those who have written to instruct the nation, as containing ‘little or no nutriment’, and ‘the curse of Ireland’.
1887 Weekly Med. Rev. 12 Mar. 307/2 The homely, modest potato, familiarly known as the ‘Irish lemon’, has discovered a new field for usefulness.
1888 Science 27 Jan. 50/2 She tested nearly all of the Irish apples, and found that they had been cooked to the proper consistency save one. This particular ‘spud’ remained as hard as adamant.
1900 Manch. Q. 19 226 [Lancs.] Oatmeal he calls ‘porritch powder’. Potatoes are ‘Irish grapes’.
1970 J. P. Spradley You owe yourself Drunk ii. 31 Supper: terrific—baby beef, dressing, mashed ‘Irish apples’.
1975 M. McGinn Fry Little Fishes i. 16 Thankful they were to see the last of the tatties. ‘Get them Irish grapes lifted,’ shouted Flafferty.
(b) Originally and chiefly U.S. Modifying the names of conveyances to designate a wheelbarrow, esp. in Irish buggy. Now historical.Probably with reference to the formerly frequent employment of Irish people as building labourers.
ΚΠ
1885 Daily Leader (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) 16 Aug. I won't tell you what Douglass and Jule are doing because it might offend their feelings if I told you they were running an Irish buggy.
1914 Adams County (Iowa) Free Press 2 May 1/1 Our highly esteemed fellow citizen of English birth got between the handles of an Irish buggy and proceeded to the lumber yard for a few bundles of shingles.
1936 Our Army Sept. 22/1 Old Bill..is the official driver of those one-wheeled vehicles variously dubbed Georgia Buggies, Irish Go-Carts or wheelbarrows.
1949 J. Chisholm Brewery Gulch 42 He could put a loaded Irish-man-o'-war, as the miners called a wheelbarrow, on his hard head and walk off with it.
1996 M. W. Seguin Silver Ribbon Skinny 39 We got anyone who can drive an Irish buggy (wheelbarrow) or use an Irish piccolo and banjo (pick and shovel) workin' in shifts.
c. colloquial (somewhat offensive). Of a statement or action: paradoxical; illogical or apparently so.In quot. 1820 as adv. (cf. to weep Irish at weep v. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > equivocal quality, ambiguity > paradox > [adjective]
paradoxal1602
paradox1624
paradoxial1624
paradoxic1632
paradoxical1638
paradoxographical1814
Irish1820
ironical1868
ironic1889
1820 H. Brougham Let. 5 Feb. in H. Maxwell Creevey Papers (1903) I. 297 Your advice has been followed by anticipation (to speak Irish).
1838 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 18 Aug. (1954) I. 6 Isaac and I went alone (that seems rather Irish), and staid only a week.
1857 E. C. Gaskell Let. 7 Dec. (1966) 491 The lecture was not (to me) so very interesting, being a sort of recapitulation of what he was going to say (if that's not Irish).
1926 J. S. Huxley Ess. Pop. Sci. 121 To be Irish, the longer it lives, the sooner it ought to die.
1937 A. Upfield Mr. Jelly's Business (1938) iii. 28 He doesn't seem to mind me courting his daughter, but he doesn't give me a chance to do any courting. That's Irish, but it's a fact.
1970 R. Hill Clubbable Woman vi. 192 ‘Marcus wouldn't dare to tell a lie like that unless it was true!’ ‘Irish,’ said Pascoe.
1997 Neon May 94/2 I thought that sounded a bit Irish, but it was exactly right.
6.
a. Of a regiment or company in a military force outside the British Isles: composed chiefly of Irish soldiers (or soldiers of Irish origin). Frequently in the names of specific companies and regiments, as Irish Brigade, Irish Legion, etc. Cf. Irish guard n. 1. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. ii. ii. 299 Many loose men flocked into that Prouince [sc. Munster] out of the Low-Countries,..being trained there in the Irish Regiment with the Arch-Duke.
1633 W. Watts Swedish Intelligencer: 3rd & 4th Pts. iv. 150 December the third, was the Armie mustered at Konickswinter: and December the tenth, were the English, Scottish, and Irish Brigade, reduced.
1699 J. Stevens tr. F. Camargo y Salcedo Suppl. 39 in tr. J. de Mariana Gen. Hist. Spain He was invited to a Supper, and there put to death by the Officers of the Irish Regiments then in the Emperor's Service.
1718 Faithful Reg. of Late Rebellion 5 He went to France and took service in the Irish Regiment of Foot, commanded by Lieutenant General Dorrington, in the French service.
1820 Times 5 Feb. 3/7 The Irish Legion raised by Gen. D'Evereux, for the service of Venezuela and Granada.
1845 M. J. Barry in Spirit of Nation 231 (note) The recruits for the Irish Brigade..were entered on the ship's books as ‘wild geese’.
1916 Jrnl. Amer. Irish Hist. Soc. 1 84 The Irish Sixty-ninth of New York lost more men in killed and wounded [during the American Civil War] than any other regiment from the state.
1983 C. T. McIntire Eng. against Papacy 1858–61 viii. 202 A small number of English Catholics volunteered [for military service in the Papal States] as well, and were assigned to the Franco-Belgian Tirailleurs or the Irish brigade.
2005 D. H. Akenson Irish Hist. Civilization (2006) I. 408 Eventually, Napoleon turned the Irish Legion into a small unit..of his European army. The officers still are Irish, but..the ranks are filled with prisoners-of-war, mostly Poles.
b. Designating a regiment of the British Army chiefly composed of soldiers of Irish origin. Also: designating a similar regiment in a Commonwealth army. Chiefly in the names of such regiments, as Irish Dragoons, Irish Hussars, etc. Cf. Irish guard n. 3. Also: designating a member of such a regiment.
ΚΠ
1645 Whole Triall of Connor Lord Macguire 8 An Irish Company of Foot of Colonell Willowbies Regiment, all Protestants, and servitours.
1689 E. Bohun Hist. Desertion 85 A Party of the Prince's men..attacked the Irish Dragoons.
1755 in B. Martin Misc. Corr. (1759) I. Oct. 173/2 Civil and Military Preferments... Isaac Hamilton, Gent. to be a Lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment of Foot.
1783 Brit. Mag. & Rev. Nov. 403/2 Royal Irish Regiment of Artillery. John Stratton, to be colonel-commandant.
1872 All Year Round 23 Mar. 396/2 The cavalry included..the Queen's Own Irish Lancers.
1894 Ld. Wolseley Life Marlborough II. 177 Some sixty or seventy Irish Dragoons ‘drew out’..and took up a threatening position.
1902 Chatterbox 352 (caption) ‘And where may you be going, Mr. Boer?’ asked an Irish Fusilier.
1941 Faugh-a-Ballagh 34 45/1 Of our Allied Regiment, the Irish Fusiliers of Canada, we have heard nothing concrete since last May.
1998 Independent (Nexis) 15 Sept. (Features section) 8 I'd chosen the Irish Hussars, which actually were a tank regiment; being Irish, they also didn't do tours of duty in Northern Ireland.
B. n.
1.
a. With plural agreement, frequently with the. Irish people, soldiers, etc., or people of Irish descent in other countries, considered collectively.Anglo-, black, mere, Northern, Scotch, Scots, shanty, stage, wild Irish, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > the Irish > [noun]
Irishc1275
wild Irisha1398
Irishryc1475
Irishy1596
Oirish1862
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 9011 Þa Irisce weoren nakede.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 6415 Scottes..Galewaȝes & Irreisce [c1300 Otho Yrisse].
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 5551 (MED) Þer were of deneys & of scottes aslawe, & al so of yreis [v.r. Irysshe].
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1913) II. l. 13876 (MED) Þere he houed with his compenye To knowen of these jresch more certeinlye.
a1500 Eng. Conquest Ireland (Rawl.) (1896) 33 (MED) Herof come..to the Irysh dred and wanhope.
1595 W. Allen et al. Conf. Next Succession Crowne of Ingland ii. v. 121 This violent vnion of nations, that are by nature so disunited and opposite, as are the Inglish, Scotish, Irishe, Danishe, Frenche.
1612 J. Davies Discouerie Causes Ireland 287 There is no Nation..that doth loue equall and indifferent Iustice, better then the Irish.
1641 Parl. Direct. to Protestants in Ireland (single sheet) Further promise and vow to make no difference of dispacity betwixt the meere Irish, & them of the Pale, or betwixt the Irish, and the new Irish.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland xiii, in Tracts (1769) 375 English in Ireland, growing poor and discontented, degenerate into Irish.
1724 J. Swift Let. to People of Ireland 17 They look upon Us as a Sort of Savage Irish.
1796 Hull Advertiser 23 July 4/2 Crying Pillilew! after the manner of the Irish at funerals.
1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek v. 107 The Irish betake themselves to rebellion when stopped in their merry-makings.
1866 Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 181 690 If the Irish in America..settle there with so strong a hostility to us, they have had their reasons.
1893 Home Missionary Oct. 305 The Irish..who began by laying our water-pipes..now lay a different kind of pipe, and make our city government.
1906 Sinn Fein 2 June 1/2 (heading) No Irish need apply.
1960 N. Coward Diary 21 Aug. (2000) 446 In fact the Irish behave exactly as they have been portrayed as behaving for years.
1984 Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen xii. 297 The Irish seem to use New Orleans Red veal; blacks use baby beef, and the restaurants use New York white veal.
1996 F. McCourt Angela's Ashes i. 55 They should be left there to remind the Irish of English perfidy.
b. A native or inhabitant of Ireland; an Irishman, an Irishwoman. See also wild Irish n. 2. Now nonstandard.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > the Irish > [noun] > native or inhabitant of Ireland
IrishmanOE
Ireis1297
hooded mana1464
Mac1518
Irish1553
Teague?1661
bog-trotter1682
Milesian1682
dear joy1688
Teaguelander1689
paddy1714
bog-lander1736
bog-stalkera1758
brogueneer1758
paddywhack1773
Pat1796
West Briton1805
Irisher1807
Patlander1820
Greek1823
Mick1850
redneck1852
Grecian1853
mickeyc1854
Mike1859
harp1904
1553 J. Bale Vocacyon f. 47 They can very wittely make of a tame Irishe a wilde Irishe.
1565–6 in J. A. Twemlow Liverpool Town Bks. (1918) I. 283 Oone Patrick Fyn, an Iresh..takyn..for cuttyng a purse.
1613 G. Wither Abuses Stript ii. iv. sig. R6v If but by his Lords hand an Irish swere, To violate that oath he stands in feare.
1650 A. Charters Declar. Capt. A. Charters 3 The Lord did over take those bloody Irishes, Papists, and others with his vengeance.
a1714 Earl of Cromarty Hist. Family Mackenzie in W. Fraser Earls of Cromartie (1876) II. 506 The children of Harald..came from Irland with a convocation of Irishes and other runegatts.
1828 W. B. Stonehouse Crusade Fidelis p. viii To preach a sermon for the distressed Irishes.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour II. 338/1 The Irishes don't stand up to you like men. They don't fight like Christians, sir; not a bit of it.
1962 R. Cook Crust on its Uppers v. 39 One night this Bri I been on about gets next to an Irish.
1978 K. Bonfiglioli All Tea in China x. 139 The man O'Casey was an Irish and so had a great gift for speech.
2.
a. The Goidelic language spoken in Ireland. Cf. Gaelic n. 1b, Irish Gaelic n. at Compounds 3.Irish is the first official language of Ireland (the second being English). Native speakers are now mainly found in western coastal areas (cf. Gaeltacht n.) and are usually bilingual in English.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Celtic > Goidelic > Irish
Irisha1387
Scottish-Irish1635
Irish Celtic1759
Gaelic1773
Irish Gaelic1778
Gaeilge1906
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 87 Hundred and candred is al oon; candred is oo word imade of Walsche and of Irische [L. cantredus Wallice et Hibernice].
a1450 MS Bodl. 779 in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1889) 82 375 (MED) Quaþ þe bysschop [Aidan] an yrischs, ‘Ic wepe for þis king.’
a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) iii. 133 If there be any man the which wyll lerne some Irysh, Englysh and Irysh dothe folow here togyther.
1577 R. Stanyhurst Treat. Descr. Irelande i. f. 2v/2 in R. Holinshed Chron. I If a travailer of the Irish..had..spoken Irishe, the Weisefordians would commaunde hym..to..speake Englishe, or else bring his trouchman with him.
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. ii. 81 Aidan, who naturally spoke Irish, was not intelligible of his English Congregation.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland xiii, in Tracts (1769) 371 In Ireland the Fingallians speak neither English, Irish, nor Welch.
1751 Voy. Shetland, Orkneys, & Western Isles Scotl. 26 The Natives are Protestants, but very superstitious, of a black Complexion, speak Irish, and believe the Place to have been formerly inhabited by Pigmies.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1772 I. 359 Johnson: If the Highlanders understood Irish, why translate the New Testament into Erse?
1828 C. Anderson Hist. Sketches Anc. Native Irish & their Descendants v. 154 (table) Carrigaline..English spoken, but Irish most frequently.
a1845 T. Davis Lit. & Hist. Ess. (1846) 178 Had Ireland used Irish in 1782, would it not have impeded England's re-conquest of us?
1884 J. Rhŷs Celtic Brit. (ed. 2) vii. 242 The term Scotti was made in Irish into Scuit.
1901 Daily Chron. 23 May 3/7 It is essential, in the interests of education, that bilingualism, as a system, be introduced into the national schools in districts where Irish is extensively spoken.
1986 C. McGlinchey et al. Last of Name xiii. 107 Everybody attending Graham's school spoke Irish and knew nothing else.
2001 S. MacGowan in V. M. Clarke & S. MacGowan Drink with Shane MacGowan (2002) 10 Tipperary was a gaeltacht in 1900, and my great-grandad, John Lynch..spoke fluent Irish, and so did my great-grandmother.
†b. Chiefly Scottish. The Goidelic language spoken in the Scottish Highlands and Islands; Scottish Gaelic. See also Erse adj. 1 Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Celtic > Goidelic > Scottish
ScottisheOE
Scotsa1500
Irish1508
Erse?a1513
Scotch1612
Gaelic1652
Scots Gaelic1753
Scotch Gaelic1763
Scottish Gaelic1800
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 211 Thou lufis nane Irische..Bot it suld be all trew Scottis mennis lede.
1508 W. Kennedy Flyting (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems W. Dunbar (1998) I. 211 Thy forefadder, maid Irisch and Irisch men thin.
c1540 J. Bellenden in tr. H. Boece Hyst. & Cron. Scotl. xiii. sig. Aiiii This last Ile is namit Hirtha, quhilk in Irsche is callit ane scheip.
1614 in J. R. N. Macphail Highland Papers (1920) III. 171 Ane man off my awin, quha had guid Irish.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 152 The antient langage of Scotland is Irish, which the mountaineers..retain to this day.
1702 in Boyle's Wks. (1772) I. p. cxcii About one half of the ministers in the Highlands..preach only in Irish.
1784 in Forfeited Estate Papers (1909) 217 Schools useful in learning the young English, and the masters discharge the Scholars to speak Irish.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy II. ix. 177 What I afterwards understood to be the Irish, Earse, or Gaelic.
†c. = Irish English n. 2. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Germanic > English > British English > Irish English
brogue1705
Irish English1783
Irish1834
Anglo-Irish1851
Hiberno-English1860
1834 Westm. Rev. 21 348 The Irish of the peasants (which is nothing but English Hibernicised).
3. A product or material manufactured or originating in Ireland. Cf. sense A. 2.
a. A cloth or fabric produced in Ireland; (in later use) spec. = Irish linen n. at Compounds 3. Cf. sense A. 2b. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from flax, hemp, or jute > [noun] > linen > types of > fine
chaiselc1275
sendala1300
Raines1340
lakec1386
Irish1397
chaunselc1400
cloth of Rainesa1449
sindonc1450
sindonyc1450
umple1457
cambric1530
slyre1621
cuttanee1622
kenting1657
gulix1696
cambresine1750
Moygashel1931
1397 Inquisition Misc. (P.R.O.: C 145/266/12) j toga domini de Iryssh linatt. cum nigro..j toga bastard de Irissh furrat. cum gray.
1420 in A. H. Thomas Cal. Plea & Mem. Rolls London Guildhall (1943) IV. 74 [4 ½ ells of] rawflemmysh..[12 ¼ ells of] Irissh..[1 ¼ ells of] Flemmysh.
?1740 A. Lambe Catal. Househ. Furnit. Hon. Col. J. Mercer & N. Hawksmoor 11 Four fine large damask table cloths... A piece of Irish.
1784 W. Cowper Let. 21 Mar. (1981) II. 228 Your Mother wishes you to buy for her ten yards and a half of yard-wide Irish from 2s to 2s 6d per yard.
1799 J. Austen Let. 21 May (1995) 38 Mrs Davies frightened him into buying a piece of Irish when we were in Basingstoke.
1834 E. E. Perkins Lady's Shopping Man. 63 The regard to time and other circumstances which has been recommended in choosing Irishes, should be observed in the purchase of all linens.
1921 F. R. Eldridge Trading with Asia App. iii. 369 White Irishes, not over 37-in. by 42 yards.
1934 Standard of Living Shanghai Laborers vii. 148 Among piece goods, items of the heaviest expenses are sheetings, shirtings,..white irishes, imitation twills and venetians, [etc.].
†b. More fully high-dried Irish. = Irish Blackguard n. at Compounds 3. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > tobacco > snuff > [noun] > types of
high-dried1681
Spanish1681
roderigo1692
bergamot1701
musty1709
myrtle1715
Portuguesea1721
rappee?1726
Scotch1739
macoubac1740
blackguard1782
Irish1806
Lundyfoot1811
prince's mixture1813
cephalic1828
taddy1869
1806 J. Beresford Miseries Human Life I. ii. 35 Venturing upon a pinch of high dried Irish, in the open air.
1824 J. Wright Mornings at Bow Street 209 He handed round his high-dried Irish to the ladies and gentlemen liberally.
1881 W. R. Loftus Tobacconist ii. 37 In snuff, the moisture in the high-dried Irish and Welch varied from 2.95 to 5.97.
c. Irish whiskey; (as count noun) a type or make of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > whisky > [noun] > Irish whisky
Irish whiskey?1745
Irish1876
Jameson1922
paddy1925
1876 Belgravia Jan. 325 Tain't often I drink from choice, But I fancy a drop of Irish warm softens and mellers the voice.
1893 H. Crackanthorpe Wreckage 125 Two bitters and a small Scotch..and a large Irish.
1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 114 Weathers said he would take a small Irish and Apollinaris.
1972 ‘P. Ruell’ Red Christmas vi. 58 Irish. I drink Irish. Not this muck.
2004 Washington Post (Nexis) 24 Dec. (Weekend section) t11 Not quite as strong a list as Wheaton's Royal Mile, which has more than 74 Scottish malts and a handful of Irishes.
4. A game resembling backgammon. Cf. Irish game n. at Compounds 3. historical after 17th cent.For further description see C. Cotton Compleat Gamester (1680) 109.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > backgammon > [noun] > varieties of backgammon
faylesc1330
provinciala1500
Irish game1509
Irishc1530
queen's gamec1557
tick-tack1558
sice-ace1594
doublet1611
lurch1611
tric-trac1687
verquerea1700
chouette1935
sheshbesh1971
c1530 Enterlude of Youth (1905) 21 Syr can teache you to play at the dice At the quenes game and at the Iryshe.
1564 W. Bullein Dialogue against Fever Pestilence f. 77 In this land did I se an Ape playe at ticke tacke, and after at Irishe, with one of that lande: and also a Parate, geue one of their gentle women a checke mate at Chesse.
1590 Tarltons Newes out of Purgatorie 21 Hir husband that loued Irish well, thought it no ill tricke at tables to beare a man too many.
1601 W. Cornwallis Ess. II. l. sig. Nn6v Like an after game at Irish, that is wonne and lost diuers times in an instant.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 216 Though you have learnt to play at Baggammon, you must not forget Irish, which is a more serious and solid game.
1664 G. Etherege Comical Revenge v. ii. 80 Here's a turn with all my heart, Like an after-game at Irish.
1798 J. M. Mason Comments Plays Beaumont & Fletcher 42 There is a passage in Howel's Letters which induces me to think that Irish and Backgammon were two distinct games.
1920 E. L. Guilford Sel. Extracts illustrating Sport & Pastimes in Middle Ages 45 Tick-Tack and Irish are varieties of backgammon.
1995 J. L. Singman Daily Life in Elizabethan Eng. vii. 165 Irish was one of the commonest ‘games at tables’ (i.e., games played on a backgammon board).
5. colloquial (originally U.S.). Fieriness of temper; passion, anger, rage. Chiefly with up, esp. in to get one's Irish up. Cf. paddy n.2 5.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > [noun] > angry temper
dander1831
Irish1834
1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life iv. 30 Her Irish was up too high to do any thing with her.
1860 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 3) 217 My friends say that my Irish is getting up, meaning, I am getting angry.
1872 H. W. Bigler Bigler's Chron. of West (1962) 25 This raised Colonel Smith's Irish a little.
1877 F. Ross et al. Gloss. Words Holderness 80/1 Iry; Irish, E. and N., passion; anger; rage; fury.
1936 M. Mitchell Gone with the Wind ix. 195 A delicately nurtured Southern belle with her Irish up.
1949 R. Harvey Curtain Time vii. 73 But George's Irish was up.
1972 Evening Telegram (St. John's, Newfoundland) 23 June 1/4 ‘I got my Irish up,’ he said, ‘and here's a man that's going to fight back.’
1997 Neon Sept. 39/1 If someone tries to corral me to do something I don't want to do, it gets my Irish up.

Phrases

the luck of the Irish: exceptional or surprising good luck, as associated with the Irish. Frequently in to have the luck of the Irish. Also occasionally in ironic use: very bad luck.
ΚΠ
1904 Stanford Quad 5 77 It is alive with anecdotes of the luck of the Irish.
1913 H. Gordon River Motor Boat Boys on Mississippi 20 I wouldn't go out in a rowboat for a dozen fish suppers, but you seem to have the luck of the Irish on such occasions, so get to going!
1975 M. P. Motley Invisible Soldier iii. 165 That man had the luck of the Irish..! We came smack up against a mine field... John Long got out of his lead tank and walked ahead and guided us safely through that field.
1999 M. Lucashenko Hard Yards 221 It was the luck of the Irish, wasn't it, the way things happened to fuck you up.
2009 Birmingham Evening Mail (Nexis) 29 Sept. 48 [Aston] Villa must have the luck of the Irish... They only had to put the ball in the area and it would bounce off someone into the net.

Compounds

C1. Compounds of the adjective.
a. Locative and complementary, as in Irish-looking, Irish-made, Irish-sounding, etc., adjectives.
ΚΠ
1829 in Catal. Prints: Polit. & Personal Satires (Brit. Mus.) (1954) XI. 104 An attempt to choke John Bull with Irish-made dishes.
1830 Daily National Jrnl. (Washington, D.C.) 13 Nov. The descent of an Irish-looking man.
1857 J. G. Swan North-west Coast xviii. 311 I believe that there are more Irish-sounding words in the Chehalis language than there are Hebrew.
1888 Daily News 25 May 2/2 Large quantities of Irish-made lace, embroidery, sprigging, &c., are regularly sent to the Continent.
1913 Bull. National Assoc. Wool Manufacturers June 199 These rugs are Irish designed, Irish dyed, Irish made and Irish finished, and they challenge the world.
1925 Times 31 Jan. 10/2 There was not one of the more Irish-sounding passages.
1988 A. M. Greeley Angel Fire (1989) xxxv. 320 These three bigots did not believe it possible that someone as Irish-seeming as I am..could possibly be a distinguished scientist.
1994 Nature Conservancy May–June 11 ‘What was that,’ I ask, turning to John, my Irish-looking Belizean guide.
b.
Irish-bred adj.
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1774 J. Weatherby Racing Cal. 2 180 His Majesty's 100gs for Irish bred horses.
1898 Archaeol. Jrnl. 55 186 One of the Irish jobbers who every autumn bring over Irish bred geese for sale to the farmers to fatten on their stubbles against Christmas.
2002 Oldie June 41/3 Once upon a time hobby was a generic name for an Irish-bred horse.
Irish-grown adj.
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1782 J. Beresford Observ. on Let. to Duke of Portland 44 This law was made therefore to protect Irish grown Tobacco on its carriage.
1850 S. G. Osborne Gleanings 250 Irish-grown flax.
1994 T. C. Gillmer Hist. Working Watercraft (ed. 2) iii. 121 (caption) She is built of African iroko and Irish-grown oak.
C2. Compounds of the adjective, in the names of plants and animals (sense A. 4).
Irish daisy n. English regional (now historical) the dandelion, Taraxacum officinale.
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1880 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names Irish Daisy. Leodonton Taraxacum, L.—Yks.
1936 N. L. Britton & A. Brown Illustr. Flora Northern U.S. (ed. 2) III. 315 Leontodon Taraxacum L. Dandelion... Called also lion's-tooth,..Irish daisy, monk's-head, priest's-crown.
2005 A. Phaneuf Herbs Demystified 92/1 It [sc. the dandelion] has also variously been called blowball, lion's tooth, Irish daisy, and wild endive. But the name I like best is fairy clock.
Irish deer n. (more fully giant Irish deer, great Irish deer) = Irish elk n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > extinct types
Irish deer1697
Irish elk1792
megaceros1844
1697 T. Molyneux in Philos. Trans. 1695–7 (Royal Soc.) 19 505 We shall not have the least Reason to question but these vastly large Irish Deer and the American Moose, were certainly one and the same sort of Animal.
1811 J. Bigland & J. Morse Geogr. & Hist. View World (1812) II. 107 It has..been demonstrated, that the enormous Irish deer in question must have been nearly twelve feet high.
1844 Rep. 13th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1843 238 Mr. Parkinson refers the beams of two antlers found in the till at Walton in Essex, on account of their large size, to the great Irish Deer.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xxi. 733 Its remains have been found so abundantly in the peat-bogs of Ireland that it is always called the Irish deer.
1992 A. Goudie Environm. Change (ed. 3) iv. 140 The Giant Irish Deer (Megaceros giganteus) attained an antler span of up to 3.4m.
Irish draught horse n. a strong and docile breed of horse developed in Ireland chiefly for farm use; a horse of this breed.
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1839 J. Graham Hist. Ireland 314 Two hundred and fifty Irish draught horses were sent to hasten up the train of artillery.
1911 Times 11 Jan. 6/2 A new scheme for encouraging the breeding of Irish Draught horses has been prepared by the Department [of Agriculture in Ireland].
2001 J. Lambert in M. Hickey Irish Days (2004) 266 I love the Irish draught horse. The brains of the Irish draught. There's a bit of Connemara in them.
Irish elk n. an extinct giant deer, Megaloceros giganteus, with very large palmate antlers up to 3 m (10 ft) across, whose remains have been found in late Pleistocene deposits in Ireland and other parts of Eurasia; also called giant deer, Irish deer, megaceros.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [noun] > extinct types
Irish deer1697
Irish elk1792
megaceros1844
1792 R. Kerr Animal Kingdom 296 Irish Elk—C. Alces fossilis. The horns have long beams, are palmated, and are furnished with flatted brow antlers.
1844 Rep. 13th Meeting Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci. 1843 237 The most remarkable of the unquestionably extinct species of the Cervine family is that which is commonly called the Irish Elk.
1933 A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleontol. xviii. 356 Among the more interesting forms was the gigantic ‘Irish elk’, Megaceros, with the largest antlers of any known deer.
1964 G. K. Whitehead Deer Great Brit. & Ireland xxx. 435 The giant deer—variously called great fallow deer and, quite erroneously, the Irish elk—was undoubtedly the finest deer that has ever inhabited Great Britain.
2000 New Scientist 25 Mar. 37/2 Yet the Irish elk's antlers were almost a third heavier than those of the modern moose.
† Irish greyhound n. Obsolete = Irish wolfhound n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > wolf-hound
alauntc1405
Irish greyhound1590
wolf-dog1652
Irish wolfdog1669
wolf-hound1823
Irish wolfhound1835
greyhound1838
1590 Sir P. Sidney Covntesse of Pembrokes Arcadia iii. xxviii. f. 359 The Irish greyhound, against the English mastiffe; the sword-fish, against the whale;..might be..models of this combat.
1763 R. Brookes New Syst. Nat. Hist. I. 226 The Irish greyhound is, as Ray affirms, the highest Dog he had ever seen, he being much taller than a Mastiff Dog, but more like a Greyhound in shape.
1838 W. Scrope Art Deer-stalking xii. 260 The deerhound is known under the names of Irish wolfhound, Irish greyhound, Highland deerhound, and Scotch greyhound.
Irish heath n. either of two purple-flowered heathers found in Ireland, St Dabeoc's heath, Daboecia cantabrica, and the closely related plant Erica erigena.
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?1785 Earl of Bute Bot. Tables II. 388 Irish Heath. E[rica] daboecii.
1867 All Year Round 31 Aug. 226/2 Patches of purple heather, or tufts by the roadside of that large-belled Irish heath which is only found on the western coast.
1908 G. Jekyll Colour in Flower Garden 20 There is a fine patch at the joining of the two little grassy paths of the white form of the Irish Heath (Menziesia polifolia).
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 161/2 Darley Dale heath, E. x darleyensis, is a cross between Irish heath (E. erigena) and the central European spring heath (E. carnea or herbacea).
Irish moss n. an edible red seaweed, Chondrus crispus, with flattened, branching fronds, which grows along rocky coasts in Europe and North America, and is used (in dried form or as an extract produced by boiling) as a thickening agent in various food products; also called carrageen.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > seaweed > [noun]
slawkc1450
henware1682
dulse1698
pepper dulse1724
tangle1724
slokan1758
green laver1762
sloke1777
carrageen1830
Irish moss1830
parengo1844
kombu1884
wakame1950
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > edible seaweeds
slawkc1450
laver1611
badderlocks1620
hempweed1620
henware1682
dulse1698
tangle1724
slokan1758
sloke1777
honey-ware1827
carrageen1830
Irish moss1830
pearl moss1832
Ceylon moss1861
kombu1884
sea-moss1891
sheep-seaweed1895
hijiki1951
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. vii. 323 Carrageen..commonly called Irish moss, introduced from Ireland as an article of food within the last ten years.
1903 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry 22 7/2 If the Irish moss could be obtained in sufficient quantity and a clear solution of it easily prepared, it might be much more used than it is.
1943 M. L. Fernald & A. C. Kinsey Edible Wild Plants Eastern N. Amer. iv. 405 Green, purple or black Irish Moss is looked upon with suspicion, so used are we to cooking only the old, dead and pallid fragments.
2008 S. W. Shumway Atlantic Seashore 45/1 Irish Moss (Chondrus crispus), a red seaweed, is the dominant species in the low intertidal of protected shores.
Irish pompano n. U.S. a mojarra (fish) of the tropical West Atlantic, Diapterus auratus (family Gerreidae); also called mutton-fish.
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1882 Proc. U.S. National Mus. 5 423 Gerres olisthotoma... Mr. R. E. Earll..obtained at Indian River six specimens... They are known as the ‘Irish pompano’.
1950 Amer. Midland Naturalist 44 105 The stomachs of specimens..contained hog fish, silversides, Irish pompano, [etc.].
2002 Florida Today (Nexis) 18 Mar. 1 Irish pompano: Because of its silver color, this species is also commonly referred to as a silver perch.
Irish potato n. now chiefly U.S. the white potato (as distinct from the sweet potato); = potato n. 2.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > root vegetable > [noun] > potato
potato root1583
potato1597
Irish potato1664
pratie1749
earth apple1750
Murphy1750
tater1759
tatie1788
tattiec1800
pomme de terrec1810
potato tuber1844
spud1845
nav1893
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > root vegetable > [noun] > potato > types of
baker1651
Irish potato1664
sprout1771
London lady1780
ox-noble1794
pink-eye1795
kidney1796
Suriname1796
round1800
yam potato1801
bluenose1803
yam1805
bead-potato1808
Murphy1811
lumper1840
blue1845
salmon1845
merino1846
regent1846
pink1850
redskin potato1851
fluke1868
snowflake1882
magnum1889
ware1894
snowdrop1900
King Edward1902
Majestic1917
red1926
fingerling1930
Pentland1959
chipper1961
Maris Peer1963
Maris Piper1963
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > root vegetables > potato > potato plant
potato1597
skirret of Peru1597
Irish potato1664
white potato1723
Virginian potato1731
potato plant1744
potato vine1750
lady's finger1827
peach-blow1861
Chilean potato1870
1664 J. Forster Englands Happiness Increased 2 The fourth sort..are the Irish Potatoes, being little different from those of Virginia, save only in the Colour of the Flower and time of flowering.
1786 G. Washington Diary 25 Oct. (1979) V. 57 The 4 rows of Irish Potatoes had been dugged.
1817 W. Darby Geogr. Descr. Louisiana (ed. 2) 222 All the solanums (Irish potatoe, peppers, and egg-fruit,) whose leaves are easily killed by the slightest degree of freezing.
1884 N.Y. Daily Tribune 25 May 9/6 Potatoes always mean sweet potatoes, the other kind being distinguished from them as Irish potatoes.
1905 Southern Planter Apr. 293/2 Irish potatoes require for their successful growth light loam soil full of vegetable matter and fertility.
1994 L. Poisson & G. V. Poisson Solar Gardening x. 220/2 Irish potatoes are a main crop for most people who grow them.
† Irish rush-cress n. Obsolete an annual aquatic plant, Subularia aquatica (family Brassicaceae ( Cruciferae)), of north temperate areas, with pointed cylindrical leaves; also called awlwort.
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1713 J. Petiver Catal. Ray's Eng. Herbal Irish Rush Cress.
1821 S. F. Gray Nat. Arrangem. Brit. Plants II. 696 Subularia aquatica... Irish rush-cress. Alpine lakes on gravel; annual.
1852 R. Dowden Walks after Wild Flowers xvi. 227 The Irish rush-cress—an admirably adapted name, constructed from its rush-like leaves and its cress-like blossom.
Irish setter n. a breed of gun dog with a long, silky coat, esp. of a deep chestnut-red colour (cf. red setter n. at red adj. and n. Compounds 1e(a)); a dog of this breed.The name is most often applied to the Irish red setter, but the Irish red and white setter is also a recognized breed.
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1812 W. B. Daniel Rural Sports III. 342 Mr. Thornhill describes the Irish Setter (termed English Spaniels) as bringing very high prices when of peculiar Breeds. The Colours of these choice sorts are deep Chesnut and White, or all Red.
1865 Times 4 Dec. 6/3 If you are well up in your Field, you will understand the great point of colour in the Irish setter,—the coat being deep blood-red and rich chestnut or mahogany.
1939 W. L. Phelps Autobiogr. with Lett. lxxxviii. 816 I should have liked to take home with me a beautiful Irish setter, Rex, a member of the Galsworthy household.
2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 194/2 The Irish setter is generally thought to have descended from land spaniels used for taking game with the net.
Irish sport horse n. (also Irish sports horse.) a breed of horse often used in showjumping, derived as a cross between the Irish Draught horse and the Thoroughbred; a horse of this breed.
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1985 Irish Farmers' Jrnl. 2 Feb. 55/3 Eddie Macken has added the Irish sport horse (half bred) stallion Kilkenny Flight to his showjumping team.
2007 Horse & Rider Oct. 157 (caption) Irish Sport Horse yearling gelding.
Irish spurge n. a western European spurge, Euphorbia hyberna, especially characteristic of pastures and copses in south-west Ireland; cf. makinboy n.
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1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. at Mackenboy, Makimboy An Irish Spurge, which purgeth one much, only by being born about one.
1756 C. Smith Antient & Present State Kerry xiv. 382 Irish spurge, called Makinboy, or knotty rooted spurge, common on the mountains of this county.
c1859 C. A. Johns Flowers of Field (ed. 3) 544 The Irish Spurge is extensively used by the peasants of Kerry for poisoning, or rather stupefying, fish.
1950 R. Ll. Praeger Nat. Hist. Ireland ii. 51 Euphorbia hiberna, Irish Spurge... A handsome species, forming in spring bold golden-green tufts in rough pastures and copses; especially abundant in Kerry and Cork.
2006 H. Willetts Essence of Garden 95 I believe that E. hyberna, the Irish spurge, must be short-lived; possibly my conditions curtail it still further—two to three years being the maximum.
Irish terrier n. (originally) a terrier of Irish origin (also figurative); (in later use) a breed of large wire-haired terrier with a sandy or reddish-coloured coat; a dog of this breed.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > terrier > [noun] > other types of
Irish terrier1798
Dandie Dinmont1851
Welsh terrier1857
Bedlington1867
Jack Russell1878
Airedale1880
Clydesdale1887
Border terrier1894
Manchester terrier1894
Sealyham1894
schnauzer1899
pinscher1906
Cairn terrier1910
Kerry blue terrier1922
Lakeland terrier1928
wheaten1943
Sydney silky1945
Manchester1971
Norfolk1971
wire1975
1798 J. O'Keeffe Life's Vagaries (new ed.) v. iii, in Dramatic Wks. I. 98 Now Monsieur Thomas and dat villain Irish terrier may hunt her for deir own recreation.
1833 Sporting Mag. Apr. 443/2 Brutus was got by an English bull dog out of a small Irish terrier.
1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 323/1 It is just twenty years since the Irish terrier first obtained recognition in the Kennel Club Stud Book.
1947 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Wild Life S. Afr. viii. 68 A plucky Irish terrier diverted the pig's attention by attacking it from behind.
2002 J. Cunliffe Encycl. Dog Breeds (new ed.) 245/2 The Irish terrier was shown in Ireland in 1875 and the Irish Terrier Club was formed in 1879.
Irish wolfdog n. now rare and historical = Irish wolfhound n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > wolf-hound
alauntc1405
Irish greyhound1590
wolf-dog1652
Irish wolfdog1669
wolf-hound1823
Irish wolfhound1835
greyhound1838
1669 H. Oldenburg Let. 1 Mar. in Corr. (1968) V. 423 Certainly the best Irish Wolfdog is a Gallant Animal.
1788 G. Washington Let. 5 Feb. in Papers (1997) Confederation Ser. VI. 87 He communicates your wish to obtain a breed of the true Irish Wolf dog.
1811 J. Bigland & J. Morse Geogr. & Hist. View World (1812) II. 106 The race of Irish wolf dogs is nearly extinct.
1910 R. Leighton Dogs & All about Them xv. 90 The main point at issue was whether the dog then imperfectly known as the Irish Wolfdog was a true descendant of the ancient Canis graius Hibernicus.
2005 A. Kane Irish Wolfhound 13/1 It is said that Richardson's writings about the Irish Wolfdog greatly influenced Captain G. A. Graham, to whom the modern Wolfhound owes its survival.
Irish wolfhound n. a breed of very large, long-legged hound with a rough coat, often grey in colour, descended from the hunting dogs of ancient Ireland; a dog of this breed.This breed had almost died out when it was re-established by cross-breeding in the late 19th cent.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > hound > [noun] > wolf-hound
alauntc1405
Irish greyhound1590
wolf-dog1652
Irish wolfdog1669
wolf-hound1823
Irish wolfhound1835
greyhound1838
1835 W. G. Simms Yemassee II. iv. 43 This dog is a peculiar breed, and resembled in some leading respects the Irish wolf-hound.
1880 G. A. Graham in H. Dalziel Brit. Dogs i. iii. 34 The Irish wolfhound, being used for both the capture and despatch of the wolf, it would necessarily have been of greyhound conformation, besides being of enormous power.
1908 A. J. Dawson Finn vi. 59 Finn had won two special prizes; one, a medal offered by the Irish Wolfhound Club..and another..for the biggest Irish Wolfhound in the Show.
1969 E. H. Hart Encycl. Dog Breeds 313 The Irish Wolfhound is remarkable in combining power and swiftness with keen sight.
2006 Dogs Monthly July 18/1 The Irish Wolfhound was all but lost to us in the latter half of the 19th century.
Irish yew n. a variety of the European yew, Taxus baccata var. fastigiata, commonly cultivated (esp. in churchyards) for its compact, upright growth habit; also more fully Irish yew tree.
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1813 T. Faulkner Hist. Acct. Fulham 21 Amongst the most rare and curious we have noticed, in particular, the following:..Taxus Hibernæ; Irish Yew-tree.
1879 Scribner's Monthly Nov. 38/1 Close by are arranged erect, pyramidal dark green, Irish yews.
1933 L. H. Bailey Cultivated Conifers N. Amer. viii. 255 The Irish yew, Taxus baccata var. fastigiata, is the most outstanding of the upright growing forms.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 35/2 Most yew plantings these days are..of the tidier but blander fastigiate variety, or Irish yew, whose branches all sweep evenly upwards, as if they had been bound into a bundle.
C3. Compounds of the adjective.With some slang and colloquial uses cf. senses A. 5b, A. 5c, Irishman n. Compounds; some are likely to be offensive.
Irish acre n. now chiefly historical (in Ireland) a measure of land.The size of area described varies but is typically held to be equivalent to approx. 1.62 English or statute acres (approx. 0.65 hectares).
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1572 I. B. Let. Peopling & Inhabiting Ardes sig. D.iv An Irish Acre, which is two English Acres and a half quarter.
1647 H. Jones St. Patrick's Purgatory i. 3 It doth containe about halfe an Irish acre and eleven perches.
1764 London Mag. Feb. 64/1 Ireland..contains 10000000 of Irish acres (which may be near 17000000 English acres).
1873 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 2nd Ser. 9 412 The rent is 25s. an Irish acre, or 15s. 5d. an imperial acre.
1983 Washington Post 29 Dec. b9/2 She lives in Ireland on a small estate (one-third of an Irish acre, which is a bit larger than an American acre).
2001 L. A. Clarkson & E. M. Crawford Feast & Famine (2005) viii. 181 According to him [sc. 19th-cent. Times journalist Thomas Campbell Foster] a farmer could grow 5 tons of potatoes a year on a rood of land (a quarter of an acre). This is an extravagant estimate, even if Foster had Irish acres in mind.
Irish Articles n. (with plural agreement) the confession of faith of the Church of Ireland, drawn up in 1615, and characterized by a more explicit Calvinism, greater hostility to Roman Catholicism, and a less strict support of episcopacy, than the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (cf. Thirty-nine Articles n. at thirty adj. and n. Compounds 2).The Articles are commonly associated with James Ussher (1581–1656), then a professor at Trinity College, Dublin, and later Archbishop of Armagh, who was probably the principal author.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > creed > kinds of creed > [noun] > other
Augsburg1560
Irish Articles1646
Westminster Confession1649
Scotic Confession1837
Tetrapolitan Confession1847
1646 G. Gillespie Aarons Rod Blossoming To Rdr. sig. a4 (margin) Irish Articles of Religion Art. 61, 62.
1707 J. Edwards Veritas Redux I. ii. viii. 525 Those Irish Articles..remain a lasting Explication of the Sense and Meaning of the Church of England in her Articles.
1877 P. Schaff Hist. Creeds of Christendom I. 664 The Irish Articles are one hundred and four in number.
1990 C. Russell Causes Eng. Civil War iii. 79 The Irish Articles of 1615 upheld this rejection of will-worship, contradicting the English Articles in the process.
Irish Blackguard n. now chiefly historical a dark snuff made from charred tobacco, having the reputation of being particularly pungent and likely to cause sneezing; cf. blackguard n. 7.Irish blackguard is reputed to have been first produced in the late 18th cent. by a Dublin tobacconist and snuff-maker, Lundy Foot. It is now most commonly known as Irish High Toast.In quot. 1837 in compound.
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1795 W. Marshall Rev. Ess. i. ix, in Rev. Landscape 153 Snuffing high-dried Irish blackguard.
1837 J. Richardson Brit. Legion (ed. 2) i. 34 His dress was a coarse Irish-blackguard-snuff colored frock coat.
1854 Harper's Mag. May 824/1 [It] rivals that sort of snuff called Irish blackguard in its capacity for making you sneeze.
1906 S. R. Crockett Fishers of Men xxv. 337 And if you could reconcile it wi' your conscience to bring me in a twist o' tobacco, Kinahan's Irish Blackguard for choice, I wad caa the maitter square!
1981 P. Haines Kissing Gate xxvii. 204 Then there was Uncle Alexander's snuff in the big yellow box he kept in his waistcoat—it made me sneeze so. Yellow Irish Blackguard I think they called it.
Irish bleach n. now rare linen which has been bleached in Ireland, reputed to have a particularly bright, white finish; (also) the process by which such linen is bleached, in which the cloth is subjected to a cycle of boiling in lye, followed by grassing (grassing n. 4).
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1749 Enq. Conditions Premiums Manuf. Sheeting 3 Sheetings wrought up of high whitened Yarn, cannot be so good, nor produced in so great Quantity,..as those made of well purged flaxen Yarn, commonly called Irish Bleach.
1854 J. Sproule Irish Industr. Exhib. 1853 290 But though the skilful application of chemistry has..effected wonderful improvements, the snowy purity of the Irish bleach is mainly to be referred to the humidity of our climate, its alternate showers and sunshine.
1903 R. L. Patterson in H. Cox Brit. Industries under Free Trade 61 Owing to the admitted superiority of the Irish bleach, a considerable quantity of linen is sent from Belgium, France, and Germany to be bleached here.
1955 Winnipeg Free Press 3 Dec. 8/1 (advt.) Linen damask... Beautiful cloths and napkins..in crystal color snow white Irish bleach.
Irish-born adj. born in Ireland; (in quot. 1682) born in the Scottish Highlands (cf. sense A. 1b). [In quot. 1682 after post-classical Latin Erigena , variant of Eriugena (9th cent.; chosen byname of the 9th-cent. Irish theologian Johannes Scotus (whom the translator confuses with the 13th-cent. Scottish theologian John Duns Scotus)); < Early Irish Ériu , the name of Ireland + classical Latin -gena ( < gen- , base of gignere to beget (see genital adj.) + -a -a suffix1).]
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1682 R. Westcot in tr. J. Selden Reverse Eng. Janus Notes 114 But Scotus or Scot, is the name of his Countrey, he being a Scotch-man, and for that reason called also Erigena, that is, Irish born, to wit, a Highlander.
1813 M. O'Conor Hist. Irish Catholics 243 This sentence of perpetual banishment deeply affected the Irish-born officers and soldiers of the brigade.
1829 Times 26 May 4/5 He and his wife were Irish born.
1902 Irish Eccl. Rec. May 398 I have heard some Irish-born priests express the same conviction in language much more emphatic and rather less flattering to Ireland.
1993 Sci. Amer. Aug. 62/2 The Irish-born physicist William Hamilton and the German mathematician Karl Jacobi.
Irish Box n. (also with lower-case initial in the second element) an area designated by the European Union and located largely in Irish territorial waters, in which fishing is restricted in order to help preserve and protect stocks.A smaller restricted zone, officially called the Irish Conservation Box, replaced the Irish Box in 2003, but this new zone is still usually referred to as the Irish Box (see quot. 2006).
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1977 Times 2 Apr. 2/6 Mr. Donegan, Minister of Fisheries, said yesterday the new regulations covered ‘the Irish box’.
1996 Jane's Navy Internat. (Nexis) 1 May 30 Since January 1996, a further 40 Spanish-registered vessels have been permitted to fish legally within the Irish Box.
2006 Irish Times (Nexis) 8 Apr. 8 ‘Super-sized’ Spanish deepwater freezer vessels..have temporary permits for EU fishery area VII, including the reduced Irish Box, off the west coast.
2009 S. J. Holt Comments on Green Paper: Reform of Commons Fisheries Policy 26 The Irish Box was replaced by a much smaller ‘Irish Conservation Box’ to the south and west of Ireland.
Irish breakfast n. (a) (esp. in Ireland) a substantial breakfast, typically including hot cooked food such as bacon and eggs; cf. English breakfast n. (a) at English adj. and n. Compounds 1c; (b) = Irish breakfast tea n.
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1806 J. Carr Stranger in Ireland 148 An Irish breakfast is always a very bountiful one, and contains, exclusive of cold meats, most excellent eggs and honey.
1914 Bakers Rev. Apr. 78/1 A class of tea commonly known here [sc. the United States] as ‘English breakfast’ or ‘Irish breakfast’, is totally unknown by those names in any part of the British states.
1933 Helena (Montana) Irish Independent 12 Mar. 11/8 (heading) Irish Breakfast. Fry 6 slices Irish bacon until crisp. Poach 6 eggs [etc.].
1990 A. Gordon Safe at Home 15 I went and poured another cup of tea, my own blend of Irish Breakfast and Earl Grey.
2002 Independent 15 Mar. (Friday Review section) 7/6 Start the whole occasion off with a traditional Irish breakfast. Make sure you have plenty of bacon, white pudding and sausages in store and then fry the whole lot up.
Irish breakfast tea n. (also with capital initials in the second and third elements) a type of blended black tea with a robust, full-bodied flavour; cf. English breakfast tea n. at English adj. and n. Compounds 1c.
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1958 Bridgeport (Connecticut) Sunday Post 16 Mar. 7 Twinings Irish Breakfast Tea. The traditional Irish blend of Assam and Ceylon teas. A pungent dark amber brew.
2000 M. Hughes World Food Ireland 148 Irish blends taste nothing like the namby pamby versions of Irish breakfast tea you'll find outside the country.
Irish bridge n. a ford consisting of a causeway of stones or concrete across the bed of a river, stream, etc., typically lying below the surface of the water.Apparently originally used by engineers in British India for waterways where a ford was only necessary during the rainy season.Now likely to be considered offensive.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > street > [noun] > gutter in a street > drain across a road or street
Irish bridge1866
spoon drain1934
1866 D. Forbes Dict. Hindustani & Eng. (ed. 2) i. 473/1 Salāmī, a pavement across the bed of a watercourse; an Irish bridge.
1891 Admin. Rep. Baluchistan Agency 1889–90 35 Constructing an Irish bridge on the Barnes Road..R 122 3 3.
1960 T. Zinkin Rishi viii. 124 Crossing the Irish bridge felt like driving through an ordinary puddle of water.
1969 ‘M. Innes’ Family Affair xv. 167 You cross the river by an Irish bridge... It's just a bridge, but built under the water instead of over it... It's really a reliable sort of ford.
2003 R. A. Gabriel Mil. Hist. Anc. Israel iv. 129 Although often fabricated of concrete, an Irish bridge can easily be constructed of stone.
Irish bull n. a statement which is manifestly self-contradictory or inconsistent, esp. to humorous effect; cf. bull n.4 2a.Now likely to be considered offensive.
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1734 M. Barber Poems 187 To the Right Honourable the Earl of Thormond, at Bath; who charg'd the Author with making an Irish Bull.
1763 Tom Gay's Comical Jester (title page) Smart repartees, witty quibbles, Irish bulls, &c.
1841 Derby Mercury 14 Sept. That kind of sham Reformer, who, to use an Irish Bull, is at bottom, no Reformer at all.
1914 C. L. Graves in J. Dunn & P. J. Lennox Glories of Ireland 300 There is no better known form of Irish humor than that commonly called the ‘Irish bull’, which is too often set down to lax thinking and faulty logic. But it is the rarest thing to encounter a genuine Irish ‘bull’ which is not picturesque and at the same time highly suggestive.
1985 Eng. Today July 33/3 The Irish bull is an ancestor of the present-day Irish joke (usually cracked elsewhere, but often self-imposed).
Irish car n. now rare and historical (chiefly in Ireland) a two-wheeled horse-drawn conveyance in which the passengers are seated on a pair of benches placed back to back.
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a1650 G. Boate Irelands Nat. Hist. (1652) xix. 153 The load of an Irish-car, drawn by one Garron.
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland i. 186 Proof of the great excellency of the irish car.
1826 W. Hone Every-day Bk. (1827) II. 240 The common Irish Car..is used throughout the province of Leinster... The Irish ‘jaunting car’ [etc.] are wholly distinct and superior vehicles.
1908 L. Woolf Let. 25 Nov. (1990) 142 I got into an absurd Irish car..& drove straight off.
1962 J. G. Jenkins Agric. Transport Wales ii. 25 In many ways the so-called ‘Irish’ car (Car Gwyddelig) is a close relative of the truckle cart, and like the truckle it was mainly used in south Wales.
Irish Celtic n. and adj. (a) n. the Q-Celtic language of Ireland (cf. Irish Gaelic n.); = sense B. 2a; (b) adj. of or in this language; = sense A. 3a.Irish is the preferred name of the language in Ireland and in technical use.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [adjective] > Indo-European > Celtic > Irish
Irisha1387
Ersea1464
Irish Celtic1759
Gaeilge1964
the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Celtic > Goidelic > Irish
Irisha1387
Scottish-Irish1635
Irish Celtic1759
Gaelic1773
Irish Gaelic1778
Gaeilge1906
1759 E. Aram Ess. towards Lexicon in Genuine Acct. Life & Trial E. Aram 56 That almost identity of languages is sometimes found in places at a great distance from each other, and hence that agreement in many vocables between the Greek, and the Cambrian, and Irish Celtic.
1768 J. O'Brien Focalóir Gaoidhilge-Sax-bhéarla 163/2 Amhuin is an other Irish celtic word for a river.
1861 Blackwood's Mag. Oct. 445/2 An Icelandic saga, a chronicle in Saxon, in Irish Celtic, or even in old Norman.
1894 New Ireland Rev. Sept. 436 The first book that was printed in Gaelic is a translation of John Knox's Liturgy by Bishop Carsewell... Irish Celtic scholars saw the necessity of getting the book reprinted.
1992 M. Ó Murchú in G. Price Celtic Connection iii. 37 The dominance of Irish Celtic, or Gaelic, was not destined to last for long in Scotland.
1999 A. Ó Maolfabhail in G. Jarvie Sport in Making of Celtic Cultures xi. 154 Ireland became less and less Celtic-speaking so that by 1922..the restoration of the not-quite-extinct Irish Celtic language was adopted as a fundamental aim of the new state.
Irish coffee n. a drink of coffee mixed with Irish whiskey, now typically sweetened and served in a glass with cream on top; cf. Gaelic coffee n. at Gaelic n. and adj. Compounds 2.
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the world > food and drink > drink > coffee > [noun] > coffee with spirits
Gloria1845
mazagran1871
Irish coffee1875
coffee royal1921
Gaelic coffee1946
1875 Wisconsin Jrnl. Educ. May 196/1 Mr. O'Rafferty took from the depths of his coat-pocket a quart-bottle filled..with that villainous compound known as ‘Irish coffee,’ and placed it on the table.
1934 Los Angeles Times 2 Aug. 7/7 Lunch menu..Fruit Medley, Irish Coffee.
1950 Social & Personal Dec. 57/1 I am..drinking Irish coffee, which..is a mixture of very, very good Power's whiskey and very, very bad coffee. I am deciding that my next drink will be an Irish coffee without the coffee.
1997 S. Coogan et al. Alan Partridge (2003) 240/2 They may have very nice Tudorette-style housing but can they order an Irish coffee at 3 a.m. in the morning and get it delivered to their room?
Irish confetti n. slang (originally U.S.) bricks, stones, etc., esp. when used as weapons; (also) stone chippings, gravel.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > missile > [noun] > stone as missile
stonec1275
ashlar1370
brickbat1563
beggars' bolts1608
brick-brack1649
rock1711
Irish confetti1908
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > stone or rock > [noun] > piece of stone > stones
Irish confetti1908
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > clay compositions > baked clay > brick > [noun] > a brick > collectively
Irish confetti1908
1908 Cement Age July 5 Who is lacking in proper respect for a good brick, whether it shelters us from the blasts of winter or comes to us in the form of ‘Irish confetti’, as Pat termed the brickbat.
1939 G. Kersh I got References xii. 161 I learned the use of Irish Confetti, or Brickbats, at a tender age.
1966 Observer 19 June 40/1 An American friend in Amsterdam, describing last week's riots there, said: ‘There's just a lot of Irish confetti around.’
1966 F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 57 A cargo uv Irish confetti, a cargo of stone chippings.
1988 P. J. O'Rourke Holidays in Hell (2000) 53 The ‘Irish confetti’ was dancing off upraised shields and bouncing and ricocheting all around in the courtyard.
Irish cream n. (also Irish cream liqueur) a type of liqueur made from Irish whiskey and cream; a serving of this.
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1979 Chicago Tribune 13 Mar. 14/5 Guests will..sip an after-dinner drink called an Irish cream.
1982 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Jan. (Late City Final ed.) 15 A shortage of Irish cream liqueurs is likely in the near future because of severe winter weather in Ireland that has prevented cattle from feeding normally.
1990 D. Stevens Sum of Us iv. 57 I've got some Irish Cream... Well—Jeff and I don't drink a lot of it.
2008 M. McFadden Richest Season 71 My mother would be shocked at me,..tipsy so early in the day. I've been told she only ever had an Irish cream on holidays.
Irish crochet n. (more fully Irish crochet lace, Irish crochet point) a type of heavy lace typically made with linen thread, originating in Ireland under the inspiration of Venetian raised point laces; cf. Irish lace n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > consisting of loops or looped stitches > lace > resembling crochet
Irish lace1757
Irish crochet1853
1853 Bristol Mercury 26 Mar. 4/3 (advt.) There will be a large Assortment of Irish Crochet.
1868 Boston Daily Advertiser 13 Aug. A light green parasol covered with superb Irish crochet lace.
1876 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 30 Aug. 2/4 There are exquisite samples of..Irish crochet point, Queen's point, Spanish point, [etc.].
1914 Times 29 June 13/5 (advt.) Real Irish Crochet Point set of collar and cuffs.
1965 Daily Express 14 Apr. 8/3 Linen..covers her drawing room walls (held down by strips of Irish crochet).
1981 A. Stearns Batsford Bk. Crochet xviii. 125 Irish crochet lace, and its influence is seen in many countries.
1998 G. O'Hara Callan Dict. Fashion & Fashion Designers 69/1 She specialized in adapting traditional textiles—such as Irish crochet and linens, Carrickmacross lace and Donegal tweeds—to fashion garments.
Irish cross n. (a) a cross having a ring encircling the intersection of the vertical and horizontal beams; = Celtic cross n. at Celtic adj. and n. Compounds 1; (b) Heraldry (esp. with reference to the Union flag) = cross of St. Patrick n. at cross n. 18a.
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society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > charge: device on shield > cross > [noun] > other types of cross
potencec1460
cross patonce1562
entrailed1562
Avellan1610
Greek cross1725
Latin cross1797
pendall?1828
spindle cross1828
Irish cross1832
cross patée1844
Celtic cross1857
Teutonic cross1882
1832 T. Cromwell Druid Notes 141 All the very curious, and often elegant, Irish Crosses.
1857 W. R. Wilde Descriptive Catal. Antiq. Mus. Royal Irish Acad. 107 The ancient Irish cross, carved in relief, the arms of which are enclosed within a circle.
1858 E. Davenport Jamie's Questions 84 ‘Will you help me to make the flag, mama?’ ‘Yes, my dear boy; the Irish cross should be transposed so as to show more of St. Andrew's cross.’
1955 Seanchas Ardmhacha 1 ii. 108 The general components of an Irish cross are the base, or pedestal, the shaft with a transom and..a ring.
1965 C. Pama Lions & Virgins v. 44 The two saltires of St. Andrew and St. Patrick... The Scottish cross became one tenth of the breadth of the flag and the Irish cross only one fifteenth.
2002 G. F. Snyder Irish Jesus 15 This interest in the sun continued into the culture of the insular Celts to the point that the distinguishing mark of an Irish cross is the circle (sun) around the crossbars or spokes.
Irish dance n. a traditional Irish dance; (in later use) esp. = Irish step dance n.
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a1627 T. Middleton Women beware Women iii. iii, in 2 New Playes (1657) 164 Her heels keep together so, as if she were beginning an Irish dance.
1778 T. Tyrwhitt Note on Winter's Tale in S. Johnson & G. Steevens Plays of Shakspeare (rev. ed.) IV. 384 Fadings:..An Irish dance of this name is mentioned by B. and Jonson, in The Irish Masque at Court.
1861 Ierne 28 It occurred to us that the Irish dance (the jig, or moneen) requiring so little room must have been a consequence of the smallness generally of the accommodation.
1919 Primary Educ. June 382/1 Irish Dance (Jig)... Hands on hips. 1. Set left heel at side, same time hop on right foot—1. Hop on right foot, same time touch left toe at side.
1982 Los Angeles Times 17 Sept. ii. 12/2 (advt.) Free adult Irish dance lessons. Great exercise and fun.
2006 J. Butler in A. H. Wyndham Re-imagining Ireland 141 Something interesting happened that would change the face of Irish dance forever. That something was Riverdance.
Irish dancer n. a person who performs an Irish dance, later esp. an Irish step dance.
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1914 San Francisco Chron. 15 Apr. 13/3 Mr O'Connor's skill and grace as an Irish dancer is known throughout the bay section.
1976 Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois) 13 Mar. iii. 3/1 Most dancers start at an early age..and a good Irish dancer has usually spent at least three years in lessons.
2003 D. Cole Dragonfly Bones 214 The couple started tapping their shoes against the tile floor, their bodies motionless, like Irish dancers, just the feet moving.
Irish dancing n. the practice of performing an Irish dance or dances, later esp. an Irish step dance; Irish step dancing as a genre.
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1843 Bentley's Misc. 14 264 I..can tolerate dancing, even Irish dancing, sir, now and then.
1894 San Francisco Chron. 17 Mar. 16/3 (title) Irish dancing. Interesting talk concerning the Reel, jig and hornpipe.
1914 T. Kinney & M. W. Kinney Dance viii. 175 Irish dancing... That no incident may distract attention from the foot-work, the body is held almost undeviatingly erect, and the arms passive at the sides.
1977 Frederick (Maryland) Post 28 Sept. b1/3 Irish dancing has two remarkably different facts. The first is traditional group folk dancing, which resembles many of the folk or country dances of other nations... The other aspect of Irish dancing is the more widely-known solo or step dancing.
2010 Fodor's Ireland 2010 440/1 Before Riverdance, Irish dancing was something schoolchildren performed chiefly for competitions, and sometimes on civic occasions, with their arms held rigidly by their sides.
Irish diamond n. (a piece of) rock crystal (from Ireland); (formerly also) †marcasite (obsolete).
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > gem or precious stone > rock crystal > [noun]
crystalOE
diamond1591
mountain crystal1598
rock crystal1598
Welsh diamond1705
Irish diamond1774
magne-crystal1870
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > tectosilicate > [noun] > quartz > crystalline quartzes > rock crystal
crystalOE
irisa1387
crystalline1539
rainbow-stone1587
Cornish diamond1591
diamond1591
mountain crystal1598
rock crystal1598
pebble1688
Cornish stone1695
Welsh diamond1705
rainbow crystal1748
quartz crystal1770
Irish diamond1774
1774 Mrs. J. Harris Let. 13 Nov. in 1st Earl of Malmesbury Lett. (1870) I. 283 She is very fine in a purple Spanish dress, all the buttons Irish diamonds.
1796 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 257 The Marcasite found near Dublin, called Irish Diamond.
1839 M. Gardiner Governess 49 ‘I believe,’ said Mrs. Williamson, ‘that Irish diamonds are not paste.’
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 215 Rock crystal,..also known as..‘Irish’ diamond, is also much used by watch jewellers.
1971 Country Life 27 May 1321/3 Carved devotional chairs of bog-wood..enriched with ‘Irish diamonds’, rock crystals from Donegal.
Irish evidence n. now historical (originally) a witness who gives false evidence in court, a perjurer; (later) false or perjured evidence.Now likely to be considered offensive.
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1682 True Acct. Death Habin the Informer 8 There was an Oath..about to have been made by a Right Irish Evidence, That one Mr. Nevill had wounded his Lordships Horses. But just then hearing that the Gentleman was above Fifty Miles distant from the place, he held his blow, and we have unluckily miss'd that able Testimony.
?1708 T. Baker Fine Lady's Airs ii. i. 16 His Bosom Friends are Ministers, Owlers, Pettifoggers, Nonjurors that won't swear to the Government, and Irish Evidences that will swear to any thing.
1831 W. Orme Life & Times R. Baxter I. xii. 309 The dissenters were tried by mercenary judges, before packed juries, on Irish evidence.
1996 W. H. A. Williams 'Twas only Irishman's Dream 59 The Victorian era when ‘Irish evidence’ was false testimony.
† Irish fossil n. Obsolete a potato; cf. sense A. 5b(a).Apparently only in or with reference to the writings of Sydney Smith.
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1843 S. Smith Let. 18 Dec. in Mem. S. Smith (1855) II. 522 I hope the Irish fossils have reached you by this time, and that they are approved of.
1855 Lady Holland Mem. S. Smith I. 376 You always detect a little of the Irish fossil, the potato, peeping out in an Irishman.
Irish Free State n. [after Irish Saorstát Éireann Saorstát Éireann n.] the independent state consisting of twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, established in 1922 under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, and officially renamed Ireland in 1937; cf. Twenty-six Counties n. at twenty adj. and n. Compounds 4.Established as a dominion of the British Commonwealth, with a Governor General representing the British monarch, the Irish Free State (Irish Saorstát Éireann) was intended to comprise the whole of Ireland. However, six counties in the province of Ulster immediately withdrew to remain part of the United Kingdom (see Six Counties n. at six adj. and n. Compounds 2). A new constitution in 1937 replaced the office of Governor General with one of president, and renamed the country Ireland (in English) or Éire (in Irish); in 1949 the country formally became a republic (Republic of Ireland; Irish Poblacht na hÉireann) and ceased to be part of the Commonwealth. The name Eire was common in British English for a period after 1937, but is now only in occasional use, with the Republic of Ireland becoming the usual name in British English, esp. since the 1970s.In quot. 19211 referring to the Irish Republic, unilaterally declared in 1919 and ending with the establishment of the Irish Free State.
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the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > Ireland > [noun] > Republic
Kathleen Ni Houlihan1841
Irish Free State1921
Saorstát Éireann1922
Twenty-six Counties1922
south1924
1921 Soda Springs (Idaho) Chieftain 6 Oct. President Cosgrave of the Irish Free State appeared before the Dail Eireann.
1921 Times 7 Dec. 10/1 The intention in setting up the Irish Free State is to follow the Parliamentary procedure adopted in 1800 for carrying the Union.
1922 Act 13 Geo. V c. 2 An Act to make such provisions as are consequential on or incidental to the establishment of the Irish Free State.
1937 V. Bartlett This is my Life x. 144 When the Irish Free State was admitted [to the League of Nations]..President Cosgrave made his opening speech in Gaelic.
1991 Hist. Workshop Spring 157 Lee is mindful of the achievements of the Irish Free State and Eire since 1922 in establishing and stabilizing a liberal democratic state.
Irish Gael n. (a) a native or inhabitant of Ireland, spec. one who speaks Irish Gaelic; (b) = Scot n.1 1 (historical).
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1771 J. Macpherson Introd. Hist. Great Brit. & Ireland 39 The Scottish and Irish Gaël have brought down the name of Alba or Albin to the present age.
1814 Thoughts on Origin & Descent of Gael 307 The appellation of Scoti was applied to a certain portion of the inhabitants of Ireland..; and such of the Irish Gael as led a life similar to the mountaineers of Scotland, got,..the same appellation.
1902 Times 15 Mar. 12/3 A religious celebration of St. Patrick's Day for Irish Gaels in London will take place..to-morrow... The vernacular used on the occasion will be Irish exclusively.
2010 Ireland & United Kingdom (World & Its People) 31/1 The Irish Gaels, who called themselves Scots, founded a separate kingdom called Alba alongside the Pictish kingdom.
Irish Gaelic n. = sense B. 2a. [Introduced to distinguish the Celtic language of Ireland from the closely-related Scottish Gaelic (compare earlier Scots Gaelic n., Scotch Gaelic n., and later Scottish Gaelic n.). Compare earlier Irish Celtic n. and adj. The preferred name of the language in Ireland and in technical use is now Irish (compare sense B. 2a and also sense A. 3a).]
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the mind > language > languages of the world > Indo-Hittite > [noun] > Indo-European > Celtic > Goidelic > Irish
Irisha1387
Scottish-Irish1635
Irish Celtic1759
Gaelic1773
Irish Gaelic1778
Gaeilge1906
1778 W. Shaw Anal. Galic Lang. Introd. p. xviii The Scots and Irish Galic, though not radically different, are two separate dialects of the same language.
1878 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. Great Brit. & Ireland 72 This is a form of the plural rather rare in Irish Gaelic, but frequent in Welsh.
1988 N. C. Dorian in C. B. Paulston Internat. Handbk. Bilingualism & Bilingual Educ. vi. 110 No generally valid statement can be made about the mutual intelligibility of Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic.
2009 Republican (Springfield, Mass.) (Nexis) 28 Nov. b1 Scripture readings will be read in Irish Gaelic by center members.., and the ‘Our Father’ will be recited in Irish.
† Irish game n. Obsolete = sense B. 4.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > board game > backgammon > [noun] > varieties of backgammon
faylesc1330
provinciala1500
Irish game1509
Irishc1530
queen's gamec1557
tick-tack1558
sice-ace1594
doublet1611
lurch1611
tric-trac1687
verquerea1700
chouette1935
sheshbesh1971
1509 A. Barclay Brant's Shyp of Folys (Pynson) f. xiiii Thoughe one knowe but the yresshe game yet wolde he haue a gentyllmannys name.
1575 G. Turberville Bk. Faulconrie sig. B.ij Both Ticktacke and the Irish game, are sportes but made to spende.
1640 J. Shirley St. Patrick Epil. sig. I4 How e're the Dyce run Gentlemen, I am The last man borne, still at the Irish game.
Irish green n. (more fully Irish green marble) serpentine marble from Connemara.
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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > metamorphic rock > [noun] > marble > others
Florentine marble1706
Carraraa1728
rosso antico1730
giallo antico1741
campan1794
dolomite1794
ruin marble1798
turquin1811
picrite1814
landscape marble1816
snow1848
Irish green1850
palombino1859
Tennessee marble1875
corallite1883
stalagmite marble1895
Piastraccia1909
1850 G. Godwin Buildings & Monuments 11/2 Irish green marble is extensively used in the floor, as a decoration.
1865 Nat. Hist. Rev. Apr. 297 The best way of getting a sight of the structure..is to dissolve small flakes of the ‘Irish Green’ (as the stone-masons' men called the Galway and Connemara marble) in very weak dilute acid.
1914 Times 16 July 11/4 A massive chimneypiece, white marble inlaid with Irish green, 41 guineas.
2003 P. Rogers Westm. Cathedral 65 The green marble of Connemara is an ophicalcite... It is known as Connemara green or Irish green.
Irish guipure n. a form of appliqué lace made in Ireland in the 19th and early 20th centuries, originally at Carrickmacross in Monaghan; now more commonly called Carrickmacross, or Carrickmacross guipure.
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1850 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 16 Aug. Tablecloths, embroidery, Irish guipure, Limerick lace, [etc.].
1900 Womanhood May 453/2 At the bust line there is a rich bertha trimmed with white Irish guipure.
1971 E. Boyle Irish Flowerers iv. 84 Appliqué shawls, baby robes and Irish guipure shown by firms like Lambert and Bury and Forrest & Sons.
Irish harp n. a harp of a type played or produced in Ireland; esp. = clairschach n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > harp or lyre > [noun] > Celtic harp
clairschach1490
Irish harp1599
Celtic harp1792
1599 E. Wright in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. 165 The Irish harpe sounded sweetely in our eares.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1654 (1955) III. 92 My old acquaintance & most incomparable player on the Irish-Harp, Mr. Clarke.
1797 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 326/1 There are among us two sorts of this instrument, viz. the Welch harp..and the Irish harp.
1879 G. Grove Dict. Music I. 686/1 The beautiful form of the more modern Irish harp is well known from its representation in the royal coat of arms.
1973 Country Life 29 Mar. 861/3 Small Irish harps..can be bought for £130. They serve as a sort of apprenticeship for would be serious harp players.
1984 New Grove Dict. Musical Instruments II. 138/2 Irish harps were strung to the left side of the neck, but tuning was done from the right; the left hand played the treble, the right hand the bass.
Irish hint n. a very broad hint (esp. one expressed in action), a blunt statement.Now likely to be considered offensive.
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1769 J. Madison Let. 10 Aug. in Papers (1962) I. 43 I believe there will not be the least danger of my getting an Irish hint, as they call it.
1854 Hogg's Instructor 3 513/1 Give them an Irish hint, can't you?—kick them down stairs.
1856 Courier of Mines 6 Nov. He shows a whole white plume, Until he gets an Irish hint, a kick, to leave the room.
1874 Athenæum 15 Aug. 201/1 Maybe he got the well-known Irish hint which keeps any man from going as a guest anywhere, and which consists in the said man not being invited.
1989 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) III. (at cited word) A teacher, having stumped a student with a question, rephrased it in such a way as to make the answer obvious, adding, ‘An Irish hint.’
Irish horse n. Nautical slang (now historical) salt beef which is particularly tough, esp. through being old.
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the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > preserved meat > [noun] > salted meat
Martinmas meatc1450
Martinmas beefc1475
powder beef1479
Martinmas flesh1656
Irish horse1748
bully1753
junk1762
salt junk1792
salt horse1836
red horse1864
hunter's beef1879
bullamacow1887
Jack1890
macon1939
1748 T. Smollett Roderick Random I. xxxiii. 291 Our provision consisted of putrid salt beef, to which the sailors gave the name of Irish horse.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 404 Irish horse, old salt beef.
1906 H. Strang In Clive's Command vi. 60 At sea 'tis all rope's end and salt pork, with Irish horse for a tit-bit.
2005 P. H. Spectre Mariner's Misc. 193 Salt beef that was tougher than usual—which was tough indeed—was known to sailors as ‘Irish horse.’
Irish howl n. now historical (in Ireland) a lamentation for the dead, typically featuring unrestrained wailing, gesticulation, etc.; (also in extended use) a cry, wail, or clamour raised by Irish people; cf. pillaloo int.
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1686 H. Higden Mod. Ess. 13th Satyr Juvenal 27 The funerals of our Friends with State, And Mourning Pomp, we celebrate, Condoling their Deceased Souls, With Bellowings loud, as Irish howls.
1789 Death & Dissection Mrs. Regency 20 Six Irish Regency Giants..singing the Irish howl—‘pullalaloo—pullalaloo—Oh—Oh she was our darling!’
1815 C. A. Eaton et al. Battle of Waterloo (ed. 2) p. xxxvi The Irish howl set up by the Enniskillen Dragoons, and other Irish Regiments, is reported to have carried almost as much dismay into the ranks of the enemy, as their swords.
1840 R. Allan Sportsman in Ireland I. 260 The first impression made on the mind by the Irish howl is really a painful one. The tone of the lamentation, so prolonged and loud, conveys the feeling of a sudden and irremediable grief.
1887 T. D. Ingram Hist. Legislative Union Great Brit. & Ireland iii. 64 The Bill was received with an Irish howl.
1997 K. Trumpener Bardic Nationalism 302 The 1892 edition appends John Wesley's even more cynical reading of the ‘Irish howl’ in his Journal of 1750.
† Irish howler n. Obsolete (in Ireland) a person who laments loudly and without restraint at a funeral, esp. one who is hired to do so (rare); (later, in extended use) an Irish person who raises a shout, clamour, uproar, etc.
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1676 J. Golborne Upon Much Lamented Death in J. Wilson Vanity of Mans Present State sig. B3 The Irish howlers, or the formal Mum Of Solemn Statues would but ill become this sadness, such are Hirelings.
1691 J. Dunton Voy. round World I. iii. 40 Could I get all the Irish Howlers between Carickfergus and t'other side of Dublin to hoot and hollow over her grave, they'd never bring her to life again.
1838 Blackwood's Mag. May 578 Crush with scorn that cackling goose, And strike these Irish howlers dumb!
1869 C. Dickens Let. 24 Oct. (2002) XII. 430 This feeling is very strong among the noisiest Irish howlers.
1881 Aberdeen Jrnl. 31 Jan. 7/3 He would soon put down that Irish mutiny in the House of Commons. he'd ropes-end the Irish howlers one and all.
Irish hubbub n. now chiefly historical tumultuous noise or shouting, or a bout of riotous, noisy revelry, perceived as characteristic of the Irish (cf. hubbaboo n., wild Irish n. 1); (also in extended use) †an outbreak of widespread anger or excitement; a furore (obsolete).
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1555 W. Waterman tr. J. Boemus Fardle of Facions i. vi. 103 Thei [sc. Ichthiophagi of Afrike] flocke together to go drincke..shouting as they go with an yrishe whobub.
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 326 b Mightier is the force of the Veritie..then that it can be dasht out of countenaunce with Irishe hooboobbes.
1634 J. Ford Perkin Warbeck (1968) ii. iii. 168 There have been Irish hubbubs, when I have [danced] too.
1861 Derby Mercury 12 June 4/5 The Irish hubbub about the Ministerial repudiation of the Galway contract still continues.
1886 Punch 17 July 28/1 To-day I wished, out of pure weariness of the spirit, to look into this Irish hubbub.
2000 M. Neill Putting Hist. to Question xiii. 346 The Babylonical confusion known as the Irish hubbub.
Irish hurricane n. Nautical slang a dead calm; (also) a slight drizzle in calm conditions; cf. Irishman's hurricane n. at Irishman n. Compounds.Now likely to be considered offensive.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > complete absence of wind
calmness1516
calm1517
malace1623
clock-calm1777
Irishman's hurricane1803
Paddy's hurricane1819
airlessness1831
Irish hurricanea1835
windlessness1916
a1835 D. Price Mem. Field Officer (1839) xvi. 516 We were again accommodated with that abhorrence of sailors, a calm; by our naval wits, denominated an Irish hurricane.
1889 St. Paul (Minnesota) Daily News 27 July 2/3 Not a boat completed the circuit of the buoys in Saturday's regatta, owing to the ‘Irish hurricane’.
1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 72 Irish hurricane, a flat calm with drizzling rain.
2002 J. McGeary tr. G. Bernardin Sailing around World xii. 120 West-northwesterly winds, squalls, lightning, thunder, followed by another ‘Irish hurricane’ and, to top it off, we were becalmed for nearly 24 hours.
Irish-Ireland adj. designating a movement to assert the primacy within Irish national life of, and stimulate the interest of Irish people in, the traditional culture and language of the country; (more generally) designating the ideology asserting the primacy of traditional Gaelic over Anglo-Irish culture.
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1901 Meath Chron. 14 Dec. That feature, which has been so long used to ridicule Irishmen, was very cleverly utilised to illustrate a phase of the Irish Ireland movement.
1904 W. B. Yeats in Daily Chron. 18 Mar. 3/4 I went..to tell the Irish of America of what we call the Irish Ireland movement.
1916 P. Colum in M. Joy Irish Rebellion of 1916 & its Martyrs iii. 41 How could they be obtained without impairing the sanction of the Irish Ireland ideology?
1996 T. E. Hachey in T. E. Hachey et al. Irish Experience (rev. ed.) xii. 184 Although the Irish people have continued to resist using the Irish language, a majority of them still piously pay lip service to the Irish-Ireland ideal.
2000 Hist. Jrnl. 43 748 The turn of the century debate between the Irish-Ireland movement and the Anglo-Irish literati.
Irish jig n. a lively Irish dance; a piece of music for such a dance.
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society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > dances of other countries > [noun] > Ireland
Irish jig1684
1684 T. D'Urfey Choice New Songs 14 (title) A Scotch Song made to the Irish Jigg.
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland ii. xvii. 75 The irish jig, which they can dance with a most luxuriant expression.
1843 C. J. Lever Jack Hinton (1878) xvii. 124 The whole party would take hands and dance round the table to the measure of an Irish jig.
1865 All Year Round 3 June (1993) 447/1 Dancing an Irish jig on the cellar-flap outside the beer-shop.
1929 E. Bowen Joining Charles 64 Grizelda and Doris were best in the Irish Jig; so saucy.
1991 Dirty Linen Oct. 75/3 The album contains Irish jigs and reels, Romanian horas, and a waltz.
Irish-jig v. intransitive to dance an Irish jig.
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1919 Punch 26 Feb. 166/2 I've fox-trotted in Stranraer, Irish-jigged in Mullingar.
2003 T. Hayden Very Worst Thing 163 Now he Irish jigged on the playground.
Irish joke n. (a) = Irish bull n. (now rare and likely to be considered offensive); (b) (now chiefly) a joke making fun of Irish people, typically portraying them derogatorily as slow-witted or unsophisticated.
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1812 J. Ferriar Illustr. of Sterne (ed. 2) I. iii. 79 Most of the stories, commonly quoted as such [sc. Irish bulls], are either of Greek, or French origin. The Αζεíα of Hierocles contain many of those blunders, which are reckoned standard Irish jokes.
1845 Irish Lit. Messenger Feb. 111/2 Both gentleman laughed loudly at the Irish joke.
1940 E. O. Harbin Fun Encycl. xvii. 652 Every member of the family is asked to tell the Irish joke he has brought to the party.
1975 Fortnight 19 Dec. 6/1 Until recently Irish jokes tended to fall into several distinct categories... Irishmen themselves told many of them... One favourite kind was what has become known as ‘Irish bull’.
2009 Express (Nexis) 24 Feb. 27 30 BT staff suspended for emailing Irish joke... The round-robin message passed on by workers involved a ‘harmless’ quip about three Irishmen leaping off a cliff.
Irish lace n. lace made in Ireland; a particular type of lace made or originating in this country; esp. (a) = Irish crochet n.; (b) = Limerick n. 3; (c) = Irish guipure n.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > consisting of loops or looped stitches > lace > resembling crochet
Irish lace1757
Irish crochet1853
1757 Votes House of Commons Parl. Ireland 3 Nov. 68 The Means of bringing a Discredit on the Irish Lace.
1821 Times 5 Nov. 4/4 (advt.) Fine Irish lace.
1854 C. M. Yonge Heartsease I. xiv. 336 She was..prettily dressed with some Irish lace.
1880 L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery v. 51 Tambour work..is now almost confined to the manufacture of what is known as Irish or Limerick lace..made as net..with a tambour or crochet hook.
1881 C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork Mod. Homes i. 94 Irish lace, made of flax-thread with a ground-work of crochet.
1907 E. Wharton Fruit of Tree ii. ix. 139 Let me lend you my dress with the Irish lace.
a1929 L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) iii. 16 We all had new poplin dresses with Irish lace collars.
1997 J. L. Gwynne Illustr. Dict. Lace 67/1 Designs of all Irish laces..were much improved from 1880 onwards by the encouragement given to the industry by the patronage of Queen Victoria and others.
2008 Bangor (Maine) Daily News (Nexis) 4 Nov. c5 Irish lace also was made in France, Italy, Germany and Japan.
Irish linen n. linen manufactured in Ireland; spec. a fine, lightweight linen made of Irish flax; a piece or example of this.
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1739 London Daily Post 25 July (advt.) Table-Linen, Irish Linen, Dowlass, and printed Linen, &c.
1785 J. Wedgwood Let. 3 Oct. in Sel. Lett. (1965) 285 Irish linens in the British market.
1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. III. 516/1 Dowlas is a strong kind of Irish linen, for shirting.
1879 M. E. Braddon Vixen III. 319 She wore Irish poplin, and Irish lace, Irish stockings, and Irish linen.
1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 233 Irish linen, a very fine light-weight linen woven of Irish flax.
1973 P. Geddes Ottawa Allegation viii. 102 In a department store on the Mall she stood and fingered Irish linens.
2005 C. Mendelson Laundry iii. xx. 315 Some Irish linen is still whitened by bleaching in the sunlight, a process called ‘grass bleaching’.
Irish martingale n. Horse Riding a short strap with a ring at each end (or in early use also a single ring) through which the reins are passed below the horse's neck, chiefly used to prevent the horse flipping both reins on to the same side of its head.Now chiefly used in steeplechase and hurdle racing.
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > rings or loops
ringle1419
torret1429
button?1561
French buckle1691
bridge1795
dee1795
handpiece1840
pirn1846
thill-tug1859
Irish martingale1874
pipe-loop1875
kidney-link1883
1874 M. H. Hayes Guide Training & Horse Managem. in India vi. 50 Nearly the full effect of a martingale for keeping a horse's head straight, may be obtained by simply passing the reins through two rings, attached together by a strap or even through one ring itself. This arrangement is sometimes called an Irish martingale.
1904 N. Taylor in F. G. Aflalo Sportsman's Bk. for India iii. 356 It is undoubtedly much more pleasant to hunt a horse without a martingale, but it cannot always be done. The only inoffensive form is the ‘Irish martingale’.
1986 E. F. Prince & G. M. Collier Basic Horse Care iv. 78 Accessories include leather rein stops (which keep the running martingale in place when added to the reins) and the Irish martingale.
2004 Racing Post (Nexis) 6 Apr. 10 The reins, kept together by the Irish martingale (or ‘rings’), were still round Mandarin's neck.
Irish mile n. the customary length of a mile in Ireland, 2240 yards (approx. 2048 metres) (see mile n.1 1a) (now historical); (now chiefly colloquial) a long distance; an indeterminate or unfixed distance; cf. country mile n. at country n. and adj. Compounds 4.
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1577 R. Stanyhurst Treat. Descr. Irelande i. f. 1v/2 in R. Holinshed Chron. I Eight dayes iourney, rating of long Irish myles, 40. miles to the day.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland (1691) 112 Eleven Irish Miles make 14 English.
1854 R. S. Mackenzie in R. L. Shell Sketches of Irish Bar II. 181 Stephen's Green is a square in Dublin, an Irish mile in circumference.
1910 C. Healy Escapades Candy Corrigan ii. 22 The men had never seen the like of it before, for they could have sworn that there wasn't a rabbit within an Irish mile of them.
1912 W. S. Blunt Land War in Ireland ix. 339 Twenty weariful Irish miles.
1980 G. Seymour Contract vii. 82 ‘How tight is our group?’ ‘How long is an Irish mile?’
Irish Office n. now historical a department of the British Government concerned with Irish affairs; the building in London (later also in Dublin) housing this; the civil servants working in this department, considered collectively.
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1801 Let. 4 Sept. in Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 792/2 He..is now under-secretary at the Irish office, London.
1812 Let. 4 Sept. in C. C. F. Greville Mem. Court of Eng. 1811–20 (1856) I. 403 [Sir Robert] Peel..announced his succession to the Secretaryship, by going down to the Irish Office, with his clerks, and taking possession of it.
1897 Fortn. Rev. 1 Oct. 508 The responsibility of the Home Secretary for the peace of the realm in general would not at present be deemed to warrant his over-ruling any decision of the Irish Office with respect to administrative policy in Ireland.
1917 Times 17 May 8/7 I communicated at once with the Irish Office, and they have been in telephonic communication with him.
2009 F. Campbell Irish Establishment 1879–1914 ii. 60 Given that the majority of the population of Ireland was Catholic, it is clear that the Irish office, which was governed by British and Irish Protestants, was not representative of the population over which it ruled.
Irish pendant n. Nautical slang = Irish pennant n.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > ropes or chains other than rigging or cable > [noun] > rope hanging loose
Irish pennant1829
Irish pendant1837
1837 F. Chamier Arethusa III. ii. 41 Every sail was properly set—not a yarn hung like an Irish pendant from any of the ropes.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxii. 221 There was no rust, no dirt, no rigging hanging slack, no fag ends of ropes and ‘Irish pendants’ aloft.
1906 F. T. Bullen Frank Brown iv. 67 Beyond occasionally repairing the bending of a sail or securing some of the ‘Irish pendants’..aloft, there was little to do.
1985 T. Jones Outward Leg xxv. 218 Her sides was old and her sails were rotten... Irish pendants in her rigging.
Irish pennant n. Nautical slang a loose end of a rope, yarn, etc., hanging untidily or flapping in the wind.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > ropes or chains other than rigging or cable > [noun] > rope hanging loose
Irish pennant1829
Irish pendant1837
1829 W. N. Glascock Sailors & Saints I. xii. 201 Not removing an ‘Irish pennant,’ or straggling rope-yarn from the rigging, were, in the first lieutenant's opinion, punishable offences of considerable enormity.
1892 Newcastle Weekly Courant 29 Oct. 6/6 Running gear..swung with the rolling of the little brig like Irish pennants.
1910 D. W. Bone Brassbounder i. 14 ‘Irish pennants’ fluttering wildly on spar and rigging tell of scamped work of those whose names are not on our ‘Articles’.
1996 P. O'Brian Yellow Admiral (1997) iv. 99 I think that even you will be startled by the number of Irish pennants everywhere to be seen.
Irish point n. a kind of point lace from Ireland, originally worked in imitation of Brussels lace, typically with floral designs, esp. that made in the convent of Youghal in Cork in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; also known as Curragh lace, Curragh point.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric manufactured in specific way > [noun] > consisting of loops or looped stitches > lace > needle or point > types of
point de Venise1668
French point1675
point d'Espagne1676
Alençon lace1774
point de France1774
point-net1829
rose-point1832
point de Paris1840
point d'Alençon1842
point d'Argentan1842
Irish point1851
point d'aiguille1851
point de gaze1863
Venetian point1864
Burano lace1865
Greek lace1865
gros point1865
mermaid's lace1865
point de neige1865
punto a rilievo1865
punto in aria1865
Regency point1865
Venice point1865
point de reprise1872
point russe1872
Greek point1882
hollie point1882
Venetian raised point1882
point de minute1886
point de Sorrentoc1890
1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. (new ed.) II. 560/2 Chalice cover of Irish point.
1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 272/1 Irish Point can be worked entirely as old Brussels needle point.
2007 C. A. Leslie Needlework through Hist. 137 Irish point..was patronized by British Royalty during the nineteenth century lace revival.
Irish promotion n. slang a demotion; = Irishman's promotion n. at Irishman n. Compounds.Now likely to be considered offensive.
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1843 Jack's Edition of Life at Sea xxxviii. 419 The result was a court-martial's conferring on him an Irish promotion, from his second to a third rate boatswain's warrant.
1889 D. C. Murray & H. Murray Dangerous Catspaw x. 159 Now maybe, White, you may think it's Irish promotion to be put on to sneaking after the Fielding record.
1932 F. W. Ward Between Big Parades vi. 86 He has been made the recipient of an ‘Irish’ promotion. That is, a reduction in grade from lieutenant colonel down to that of major.
2005 Guardian 5 Apr. (G2 section) 8/1 Being a priest, he was released without charge, but one day he expects an ‘Irish promotion’.
Irish Revival n. (also with lower-case initial in second element) a resurgence of interest in and appreciation of Irish language and culture, esp. that which took place in Ireland during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Cf. Celtic Revival n. at Celtic adj. and n. Compounds 1, Gaelic revival n. at Gaelic n. and adj. Compounds 2.
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1881 Irish Builder 1 Apr. 98/1 We need honest, practical, and sustained work in favour of the Irish revival. When we can behold..Irish fathers and mothers insisting upon their children learning their native language,..we will begin to feel conscious that a spirit walks the land that can never be again emasculated.
1894 Outlook 31 Mar. 1190 ‘Connacht Love-Songs’ is one of the most notable books of the Irish revival.
1904 J. McCarthy et al. Irish Lit. IV. 1426 During the last few years Lady Gregory has been closely identified with the new Irish literary movement, and has contributed much to the press in support of the Irish revival generally.
1994 J. Edwards Multilingualism (1995) iv. 108 In the heyday of the Irish revival movement,..most of the leaders were Dublin-born upper-middle-class intellectuals, for whom Irish was an acquired competence rather than a maternal one.
2015 A. Roche Irish Dramatic Revival i. 22 These plays by Yeats and Synge are more than a literal translation of Ibsen; they inform and have been translated into the deep structure of the drama of the Irish Revival.
† Irish rise n. colloquial Obsolete a fall in value; esp. a reduction in wages; cf. Irishman's rise n. at Irishman n. Compounds.
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1869 Bell's Life in London 17 Mar. 4/1 Blueskin received an ‘Irish rise’, as he went back in double quick time to 33 to 1.
1870 Glasgow Herald 5 Mar. 4/5 [It] will be found to be an Irish rise to the tune of 10½d of a loss in the week.
1892 C. H. Fretwell Anc. Mariner 94 I had what sailors call ‘an Irish rise’, becoming second officer after being for a time commanding officer.
1916 W. McFee Casuals of Sea xiii. 69 They've sold the place to an American firm and I've had an Irish rise.
Irish Sea n. [compare post-classical Latin Mare Hibernicum (9th cent. or earlier), Welsh môr Iwerddon (12th cent.)] (the name of) the sea separating Ireland from England and Wales.
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c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 3183 (MED) Out of þe dragons mouþe tueye leomes þer stode..Þe oþer adde seue branches..& toward þe yrisse [a1400 Trin. Cambr. hyrische] se westward euene drowe.
1543 ( Chron. J. Hardyng (1812) 67 Then came fro the Yrishe sea A bestyous fyshe.
1599 R. Hakluyt tr. in Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. i. 63 There stand certaine trees vpon the shore of the Irish sea, bearing fruit like unto a gourd.
1652 P. Heylyn Cosmographie i. sig. Dd3 Anglesey, is an Iland situate in the Irish Sea, over against Carnarvonshire in North-Wales.
1788 Eng. Described 77 Devonshire..is bounded by the Irish sea on the North.
1850 Times 25 June 8/2 Communication between Holyhead and Dublin.—A new mode of expediting the passage across the Irish sea has lately been proposed.
1936 H. A. L. Fisher Europe 181 By their control of the Western Isles and the Irish Sea a barrier was interposed between Ireland and Scotland.
2005 Daily Tel. 22 Aug. 5/3 Six fin whales were spotted last week by a group of conservationists in the Irish Sea, about 10 miles off the coast of Pembrokeshire.
† Irish slate n. Pharmacology Obsolete an argillaceous slate containing ferric sulphate, formerly used medicinally in the form of powder; = lapis hibernicus n. at lapis n. Compounds.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medical preparations of specific origin > mineral medicine > [noun] > slate used medicinally
Irish slate1633
slat1639
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines of specific form > powder > [noun] > specific powders > prepared from minerals
Irish slate1633
slat1639
calomel1676
grey powder1842
mercurous chloride1859
1633 S. Bradwell Helps for Suddain Accidents xii. 82 Twentie graines of Irish-Slate in powder in a draught of Posset-Ale made with white Wine.
1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical ix. 96 You must give him Irish Slate quantum sufficit.
1736 Compl. Family-piece i. i. 21 Take of Irish Slate, Sperma Ceti, of each half a Dram.
1867 Pharm. Jrnl. & Trans. 8 400 A strong protest against the messes poor people and poor people's children take, such as Godfrey's Cordial, Irish slate, and the like.
Irish Society n. a society founded in 1613 to govern the newly established county of Londonderry and, initially, organize its resettlement.The Society's membership was nominated by twelve of the livery companies of London. It now operates as a charity.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > other national governing or legislative bodies > [noun] > specifically in Northern Ireland
Irish Society1613
Stormont1934
1613 in Hist. Narr. Irish Soc. (1916) 163 After all which done information was given by the Governor and Assistants of the Irish Society, that all the monies formerly levied towards that charge is altogether issued.
1775 J. Burns Hist. & Chronological Remembrancer i. 174 The Irish society for plantings of Ulster erected in London.
1846 T. MacNevin Confiscation of Ulster vii. 214 The Irish Society is a type and symbolical representation of English rule in Ireland from the beginning.
1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 224/2 The separate estates are still held to be under the paramount jurisdiction of the Irish Society.
2006 Belfast News-let. (Nexis) 23 May 8 It's nice to see that The Honourable the Irish Society has linked up with Coleraine's traders in a three-year drive to try to help the Co Londonderry area economically.
Irish step dance n. any of various step dances originating in Ireland, characterized by a rigid, upright posture with the arms held loosely by the sides together with rapid, complex footwork, typically performed over a restricted floor area; (also) this style of dancing as a genre.
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1894 Isle of Man Times 13 Nov. 2/6 Mr O'Toole gave an Irish step dance.
1988 Washington Post 25 July b2/4 The most stringently codified folk genres—such as Irish step dance, marked by straight arms held close to the sides, a motionless upper body, and intricate toe taps, kicks, and foreleg swivels.
2007 W. W. Johnstone & J. A. Johnstone Crusade of Eagles x. 95 Andrew and Rosanna performed an Irish step dance, their feet tapping rapidly from the stage floor while they were practically motionless from their waists up.
Irish step dancer n. a person who performs an Irish step dance.
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1872 Evening Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 21 May 3/5 The son, Robert, who is an Irish step dancer.
1913 Irish Rev. Oct. 440 Men and their writings are often as..strange to each other as the limbs and faces of Irish step-dancers, whose feet spring from the ground in an uncontrollable gaiety and whose faces are set in immovable gloom.
2006 R. D. Ginsburg et al. Whose Game is it Anyway? 67 Deidre has been an Irish step dancer since the first grade.
Irish step dancing n. dancing of Irish step dances, esp. as a genre.
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1885 Chambers's Jrnl. 7 Nov. 717/1 (heading) Irish step-dancing.
1902 San Francisco Chron. 7 Sept. ii. 22/4 Ten years ago Irish step dancing in San Francisco was practically unknown.
1988 San Diego Union-Tribune (Nexis) 10 Mar. e9 A wedding dance from the Transcarpathian region had links to Irish step dancing, in both the rigid carriage of the torso and the rhythmic intricacy of the footwork.
2003 S. M. DeBroff Sign Me Up! 569 Irish step dancing. Some call this unusual, graceful style of dance ‘ice of the body and fire of the feet’ because of the rigid upper-body position and the fast moving feet.
Irish stew n. a stew made with mutton, potatoes, and onions.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > meat dishes > [noun] > mutton dishes
poor man of mutton1681
Oxford John1784
Irish stew1799
wobbler1823
navarin1877
Lancashire hotpot1898
navarin printanier1901
1799 in Catal. Prints: Polit. & Personal Satires (Brit. Mus.) (1942) VII. 534 Irish stew a favourite dish for French palates.
1800 J. Boucher Addr. Inhabitants Parish of Epsom 5 An Irish-stew, or a Scot's hodge-podge, both of them excellent in their kind.
1891 Spectator 14 Nov. 669/2 A recipe for Irish stew.
1906 H. H. Peerless Diary 5 June in Brief Jolly Change (2003) 95 In we rush, and are soon partaking of Irish stew, roast beef and diplomacy pudding, washed down with Suisse bier.
1996 J. Lanchester Debt to Pleasure (1997) 23 As for the preference expressed by some people for boned lamb in an Irish stew, I can only say that Mary-Theresa used to insist on the osseous variation.
Irish stitch n. Embroidery a vertical stitch used for groundings, creating the effect of shades of different colours arranged in zigzag rows.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > other types of embroidery
cutwork1470
Alexandrinec1500
loose work1548
Irish stitch1560
opus anglicumc1840
opus anglicanum1848
chikan1858
straw embroidery1862
Greek embroidery1882
Hardanger1904
Assisi1923
hedebo1932
1560–1 in J. Arnold Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d (1988) viii. 207/2 Stitched in le Toppes et clocks cum vid irishe stitche et lined in le toppes cum Taffata.
1624 in Archaeologia 48 144 A long cushion of Irish stitch.
1738 C. Fiennes Journeys (1947) 364 A ‘seatee of Irish stitch’... ‘8 Irish stitch coushons.’
1844 Columbian Mag. Aug. 57/2 Small, square pin-cushions, displaying flowers, worked in Irish stitch.
1932 D. C. Minter Mod. Needlecraft 10/1 Intergradating one stitch and colour with another, as is possible with Irish stitch.
2001 L. Ulrich Age of Homespun iv. 148 She and her pupil were using Irish stitch.
Irish Sweep n. colloquial = Irish Sweepstake n.; also in extended use.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > betting > [noun] > Irish sweepstake
Irish Sweep1930
1930 Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 26 July 15/4 The new Irish sweep, which is to be drawn on the November handicap.
1933 W. S. Maugham Sheppey i. 12 Did you have a ticket for the Irish Sweep?
1937 G. Greene Coll. Ess. (1969) iv. 425 The great muted chromium shadows wait..the novelist's Irish sweep: money for no thought, for the banal situation and the inhuman romance.
1965 N. Gulbenkian Pantaraxia viii. 152 Although I was not a gambler, I did buy a ticket in the first Irish Sweep.
2008 H. Newhard Lifeletter ix. 119 We got lucky again. I should have played the Irish Sweeps.
Irish Sweepstake n. a sweepstake on the results of British horse races, such as the Derby, the Grand National, and the Cambridgeshire, set up by the Irish government in 1930, originally to raise funds for Irish hospitals and medical services, with tickets being chiefly sold amongst the Irish populations of the United Kingdom and United States.The sweepstake was discontinued in 1986.
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1930 Irish Independent 16 Oct. 9/2 (headline) Big Irish sweepstake—£36,000 for the hospitals.
1963 ‘G. Bagby’ Murder's Little Helper (1964) vi. 52 When you people come around, it's never been to tell one of my roomers that he's won the Irish Sweepstakes.
1974 A. Ross Bradford Business 48 A wad of Irish Sweepstake tickets.
2009 Sunday Times (Nexis) 6 Sept. 7 While the sale of tickets for the Irish sweepstake was illegal in Britain, there was a black market.
Irish toyle n. [ < Irish adj. + probably either toil n.1 or toil n.2] now historical an itinerant thief who poses as a pedlar or tinker.
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the mind > possession > poverty > mendicancy > [noun] > beggar > other types of beggar
overlier1449
roger?1536
jarkman1567
Irish toyle1575
jackman1575
chamber-deacon1607
reacher1607
wallet-bearer1611
pie card1931
1575 J. Awdely Fraternitye of Vacabondes (new ed.) sig. A2v An Irishe toyle is he that carieth his ware in hys wallet, as laces, pins, poyntes, and such like.
1620 T. Dekker Belman of London (new ed.) sig. D3 An Irish Toyle is a sturdy vagabond.
1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 82 These Irish Toyls, or Swig-men, being much alike, I joyn..together, who carry pins, points and laces, and such like wares about.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Irish Toyles, thieves who pretend to carry about pins, laces, and other pedlars wares.
1834 W. H. Ainsworth Rookwood II. iii. v. 339 Rogue or rascal, frater, maunderer,..Irish Toyle, or other wanderer.
1942 T. B. Costain For my Great Folly i. iv. 47 Sir Bartlemy and his friends can't open a shop in Cheapside to dispose of them or hawk them around the country like Irish toyles.
Irish Traveller n. (also with lower-case initial in the second element) a member of Ireland's traditionally itinerant Traveller community (see traveller n. 2b(a)).In early use not a fixed collocation, and perhaps showing use of traveller n. 2a, referring to Irish people with an itinerant way of life more generally.Irish Travellers are now recognized in both Ireland and the United Kingdom as a distinct ethnic group with its own language: cf. Shelta n.
ΚΠ
1763 Gentleman's Mag. Sept. 461/2 The widow of a gentleman farmer..in Surry, was robb'd in her own house in the middle of the day by some Irish travellers.
1916 Jrnl. Gypsy Lore Soc. 9 142 By other travellers all the family are regarded rather as Irish travellers than as Gypsies.
2017 Hist. Ireland May 21/2 The DNA evidence tells us that Irish Travellers are descended from the earliest settlers in Ireland (c. 8,000 years ago), but that they separated from the main settled Irish community c. 500 years ago.
Irish trot n. now historical a type of lively Irish dance; cf. Irish jig n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > other dances > [noun]
dance of Macabre?c1430
springc1450
lege de moya1529
bobc1550
lusty gallant1569
duret1613
fading1613
huckler1617
ground-measure1621
entry1631
slatter de pouchc1640
ballo1651
Irish trot1651
omnium gatheruma1652
clutterdepouch1652
upspring1654
passacaglia1659
shuffle1659
passacaille1667
flip-flap1676
chaconne1685
charmer1702
Cheshire-round1706
Louvre1729
stick dance1730
white joke1730
baby dance1744
Nancy Dawson1766
fricassee1775
bumpkin1785
Totentanz1789
Flora('s) dance1790
goombay1790
egg-dance1801
supper dance1820
Congo dance1823
slip-jig1829
bran-dance1833
roly-poly1833
Congo1835
mazy1841
furry1848
bull-dance1855
stampede1856
double-shuffling1859
frog dance1863
hokee-pokee1873
plait dance1876
slow dancing1884
snake dance1895
beast dance1900
soft-shoe1900
cakewalk1902
floral dance1911
snake dance1911
apache dance1912
grizzly bear1912
jazz dance1917
jazz dancing1917
jazz1919
wine-dance1920
camel-walk1921
furry dance1928
snake-dance1931
pas d'action1936
trance dancing1956
touch dance1965
hokey-cokey1966
moonwalk1969
moonwalking1983
Crip Walk1989
mapantsula1990
1651 J. Playford Eng. Dancing Master 45 Irish Trot. Longwayes for as many as will.
1652 News from Lowe Countreys 7 The Scottish Jigg, the Irish Trot.
1714 J. Gay Shepherd's Week vi. 116 He sung of Taffey-Welch, and Sawney Scot, Lilly-bullero, and the Irish Trot.
1806 Crit. Rev. Aug. 377 Who at the advanced age of eighty-five danced a jig, called the Irish Trot, on the stage in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
1991 P. O'Brian Nutmeg of Consol. (1993) iv. 106 He undertook to show his mates how to dance the Irish trot poised on the fore-jeer bitts.
Irish twins n. colloquial (originally U.S.) siblings born less than a year apart; also occasionally in singular.With allusion to the belief that Irish Catholic families have several children in quick succession.Now likely to be considered offensive.
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1966 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. III. (at cited word) Irish twins—two children born within or in less than one year of each other in a family.
1970 L. Auchincloss Second Chance 69 His wife, it seemed, was having a second child, who would be an ‘Irish twin’ of the first.
2003 K. Kuitenbrouwer Way Up i. 16 Pauline was exactly ten months younger than me, so that, for two months every year, we were peers, barely one gestation apart, Irish twins.
Irish whiskey n. whiskey distilled in Ireland, esp. from barley; a brand or drink of this; cf. sense B. 3c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > whisky > [noun] > Irish whisky
Irish whiskey?1745
Irish1876
Jameson1922
paddy1925
?1745 in Sc. Notes & Queries (1891) 5 41/1 Provisions taken from the Ship..Water-Gruel made of Scotch oatmeal, Irish Whisky, [etc.].
1798 C. Mordaunt Let. July in E. Hamilton Mordaunts (1965) x. 243 I hope our conduct may gain us credit for discipline, but am terribly afraid of the cheap Irish whiskey.
1855 J. F. W. Johnston Chem. Common Life I. xiv. 337 While malt liquors give our Scotch and Irish whiskies.
1966 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 17 Mar. (1970) 373 Irish whiskey for St. Patrick's Day, the first time it's been served in the White House, I'll bet, and not a soul wanted tea!
1996 C. Bateman Of Wee Sweetie Mice & Men xvii. 133 He perched himself on a stool beside me and ordered an Irish whiskey.
2004 Men's Jrnl. Mar. 46 Irish whiskey has been largely overlooked in the cocktail revolution.
Irish work n. now historical embroidery done in white thread on a white ground.
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1851 Illustr. Exhibitor 23 Aug. 219/1 The case of Miss Mary Kettlewell..contains also some very good specimens of Irish work, comprehending articles in knitting, crochet, embroidery, and pillow-lace.
1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward Dict. Needlework 467/1 Swiss Embroidery. This Embroidery is the same as is known as Broderie Anglaise, Irish Work, and Madeira Work.
1915 L. Harmuth Dict. Textiles 82/1 Irish work, white embroidery on white ground mostly on handkerchiefs.
1993 P. Earnshaw Embroidered Machine Nets i. 3/1 In 1822 she..revived satin stitch embroidery, sometimes known as ‘Irish work’.
C4. Objective compounds of the noun (in sense B. 2a).
Irish-reading adj.
ΚΠ
1844 Christian's Monthly Mag. 1 275 There is a crying want of Irish-reading and Irish-speaking Ministers of the Established Church.
1899 T. O. Russell in Sel. Most National & Pop. Moore's Melodies Pref. 5 To give all of them [sc. the melodies] that have been translated into Irish..would be to make this book so large that it could not be sold at a price that would enable the Irish-reading public in general to buy it.
1967 Church Hist. 36 218/2 Eoin MacNeill and other Irish-reading scholars.
2002 K. E. Nilsen in O. García & J. A. Fishman Multilingual Apple 65 An Gaodhal was a bilingual monthly which provided the Irish-reading public in the United States with a fair variety of reading material in Irish.
Irish speaker n.
ΚΠ
1807 Scots Mag. Mar. 202/2 In Ulster, there is a great proportion of Irish speakers.
1899 P. O'Leary Easy Irish Phrase Bk. 4 The very first page of any of these books..is enough to frighten even a fluent Irish speaker from any further effort at becoming an Irish reader.
1956 B. Inglis Story of Ireland iv. 232 The number of Irish speakers in the country had continued to shrink, and the ‘Gaeltacht’ areas..were losing their Irish speakers fast.
2004 Independent 28 Sept. 15/4 Irish is the most widely spoken of all the surviving Celtic languages with Irish speakers throughout the English-speaking world.
Irish-speaking adj.
ΚΠ
1829 Christian Examiner, & Church of Ireland Mag. Nov. 381 The Society for Education of the Poor of Ireland, who do nothing for the Irish speaking people.
1893 W. O'Brien Irish Ideas 66 The shamefully-treated youth of the Irish-speaking seaboard, who are deliberately prevented from learning either Gaelic or English effectively for fear they would prefer Gaelic.
1934 Times 21 Feb. 10/4 The Claddagh folk were Irish-speaking.
1977 A. T. Q. Stewart Narrow Ground i. i. 28 The people now living in the Irish-speaking areas of the south and west.
2001 N. Scheper-Hughes Saints, Scholars, & Schizophrenics ii.130 The Cumann na Sagart, union of Irish-speaking priests, has been a most vigorous organizing force behind the Irish movement in the rural west.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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