ABSP - Irish

Irish

Words

abthane	a monastic region of the old Irish church.
acushla	an Irish term of address, darling.
aisling	a vision or dream.
alannah	my child, a term of endearment used with one's child.
alpeen	a cudgel.
angashore	a miserable person given to complaining
arrah	an Anglo-Irish exclamation expressing wonder etc.
ardri ardrigh	a title given to the High King of Ireland. [Irishard, noble + ri, king].
asthore	sweetheart.
bainin bawneen	a type of wool produced in Ireland that is only partially scoured and so retains some natural oil. [Ir. bainin, homespun].
banshee banshie	in Irish folklore, a female spirit who wails and shrieks before the death of a member of a family.
barmbrack barnbrack	a currant bun.
bawn	the fortification round a house, an enclosure for cattle. [Ir. babhun, enclosure].
bedad	an Irish oath, = by God.
begorah begorrah begorra	an interjection attributed to Irish speakers.
bejabers	another interjection attributed to Irish speakers, = by Jesus!
blarney	skilful flattery; nonsense, humbug; (verb) to flatter, humbug. [Blarney Castle, near Cork, where a stone difficult to reach is said to confer the gift of persuasive talk on those who kiss it].
bodhran	a shallow one-sided drum used in Celtic music.
bodrag bordraging	a hostile attack, a raid. [Irish buaidreadh].
bogtrotter	one who lives in a boggy country; -- applied in derision to the lowest class of Irish.
bonnyclabber	milk naturally clotted on souring. [Irish bainne, milk, + claba, thick].
boreen	a lane.
bosthoon	a boor
bowsie bowsey	a mean person
boxty	an Irish dish of potato griddle-cakes, eaten with various fillings
brehon	a judge or magistrate in ancient Ireland. [Irish breitheamh].
broguery	the use of an Irish accent.
buckeen	a poor man who acts as if wealthy.
cain kain	rent paid in kind. [Irish cain].
camogie	an Irish game, a form of hurling, played by women.
carageen carrageen carragheen	a kind of dark red, branched seaweed; Irish moss. [Irish carraigin, little rock].
chiefery chiefry cheverye	an Irish chieftaincy.
claddagh	an Irish ring
coarb comarb	the head of a family in an Irish sept; an ecclesiastical successor.
colcannon	an Irish country dish of potatoes and cabbage.
colleen	an Irish girl. [Ir. cailín dim. of caile countrywoman, girl].
corcass	a salt-marsh, or land susceptible to flooding by a river. [Irish corcach].
coshery	the ancient right of an Irish chieftain to quarter himself on his tenants. [Irish coisir, feast].
cottier	an Irish tenant.
craic	pleasant conversation
cratur crathur craythur	a woman; whiskey
crios	a multi-coloured woollen belt worn by men in the Aran islands > CRIOSES
croppy	an Irish rebel of 1798.
crubeen	a pig's trotter, as food. [Irish crub, hoof].
cuddy	the right of a lord to entertainment from his tenant.
culchie	a rustic, a country labourer.
currach curagh curragh	a long-shaped boat similar to a coracle. [Irish curach].
dawney	dull or slow
donnybrook	a brawl.
drisheen	a type of Irish sausage made with sheep's blood.
duan	a division of a poem, a canto.
dudeen dudheen	a clay pipe. [Ir. duidin, dim. of duid, pipe].
eric eriach erick	a blood-fine paid by a murderer in old Irish law.
fainne	a ring-shaped badge worn to show suport for the Irish language
feen	an informal word for a man
feis	an ancient Irish assembly for the proclamation of laws etc > FEISEANNA.
fiorin	a type of grass. [Irish fiorthan].
fleadh	a festival of Irish traditional music, dancing, etc.
fraughan	the whortleberry
galloglass gallowglass	the irregular infantry of Ireland, and the Highlands of Scotland. [Ir. galloglach, from gall, foreign + oglach, soldier].
galore	an abundnace. [Irish go, a prefix, + leor, sufficiency].
garda	an Irish policeman > GARDAI.
garran garron	a type of small horse.
gillaroo	an Irish trout with a thickened muscular stomach. [Irish giolla ruadh, red lad].
gombeen	usury; chiefly used attributively as in gombeen-man, a money-lender, usurer.
hooley	a boisterous party.
hooligan	a lout, named after a notorious Irish family.
jabers	in the Irish oath be jabers, = Jesus.
jackeen	a person from Dublin, esp. one with a parochial attitude.
kerry	one of an Irish breed of cattle.
leprechaun	a small supernatural creature.
limerick	a form of humorous verse in a five-line jingle. [Said to be from a refrain formerly used, referring to Limerick in Ireland].
lough	a lake.
louser	a mean nasty person
machree	(Anglo-Irish) an affectionate form of address, my dear.
maormor mormaor	a Celtic nobleman.
mavourneen mavournin	my dear one.
moryah	an exclamation of annoyance, disbelief etc
musha	an exclamation of surprise.
oanshagh	a foolish woman or girl
ohone ochone	an Irish interjection of lamentation.
ogam ogham	a 6th C. Irish writing alphabet.
ogmic ogamic oghamic	relating to OGAM, a 6th C. Irish writing alphabet.
ollav ollamh	an Irish master poet.
omadhaun	a fool, idiot, simpleton. [Irish amadan].
patrick	a 17C Irish halfpenny.
pisheog pishoge pishogue	sorcery. [Ir. piseog].
planxty	an Irish or Welsh melody for the harp, sometimes of a mournful character.
pollan	a whitefish, plentiful in Irish loughs.
pooka	in Irish folklore, a malevolent goblin.
poteen potteen potheen poitin	illicitly distilled Irish whisky. [Ir. poitin, little pot].
praiseach	a kind of oatmeal porridge. [Irish, from brassica, cabbage].
praty pratie	(Irish coll.) potato.
pucan	a traditional Connemara open sailing boat
rapparee	a wild Irish plunderer, esp. one of the 17th century; -- so called from his carrying a half-pike, in Irish rapaire.
rawmaish	wild dissolute talk
rath	an Irish hill-fort.
scraw	a thin sod or turf. [Ir. sgrath].
seannachie shanachie	a traditional storyteller.
shagroon	an early settler in New Zealand of other than British origin. [Irish seachran, wandering].
shamus	a private detective
shandrydan	an Irish two-wheeled cart; jocular, any worn-out antique vehicle.
shebean shebeen	an illicit liquor shop; SHEBEEN can also be used as a verb: to keep in a shebeen.
shelta	a secret jargon used by vagrants in Britain and Ireland. [Shelru, poss a perversion of OIr béulra language].
shillala shillelagh shillalah shillelah	an Irish cudgel.
shinty	an Irish game resembling hockey.
shoneen	an Irishman who imitates the ways and manners of the English.
sidh sidhe	fairy people
skanger	a young working-class person who wears casual clothes
slainte	an Irish drinking toast: your health. No plural.
sleeveen	a crafty, smooth-talking person.
slieve	a mountain
sliotar	a ball used in hurling
slumgullion	a watery meat stew.
sorehon	an ancient Irish exaction of free accommodation by a lord of a tenant.
sorra	sorrow, the devil.
spalpeen	a scamp; a good-for-nothing fellow.
stalko	(Anglo-Irish) a gentleman without fortune or occupation > STALKOES.
stelk	an Irish dish of onions and mashed potatoes.
stim	a very small amount
stocious stotious	(Irish slang) drunk, intoxicated.
streel	to trail, stream.
sugan	a straw rope
swaddler	a term of contempt for an Irish Methodist.
taig	a derogatory term for a Roman Catholic
tanist	a Celtic chief's heir elect. [Ir. tanaiste, heir].
tanistry	the system of succession by a previously elected member of the family. [Ir. tanaiste, heir].
toiseach toisech toshach	a Celtic nobleman.
trouse	Irish close-fitting trews.
tuath	a tribe, a people.
turlough	a pond that dries up in summer.
uillean uilleann	as in uillean pipes, a kind of bagpipes
voteen	a devotee.
wisha	an interjection expressing surprise. [Irish mhuis].

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