Irish adj.
1. a general negative racial epithet; usu. in combs. below.
Sporting Mag. Nov. IX 85/1: The lady has since written to her friends, that there is nothing Irish about him but his title. | ||
Sportsman (London) 2 Apr. 4/1: A thoroughly Irish idea of how to carry out lex talionis has been ventilated by a Mr O’Keefe, one of the liberated Fenian convicts. | ||
🌐 Only once or twice have I seen the stick used in earnest, and then I don’t think it was the stick that was used (which is Irish). | diary 14 Sept.||
Chopper 4 40: It has a lot of sense and logic to it in an Irish sort of way. |
2. see Irish stew adj.
I. Pertaining to worka. The wheelbarrow
In compounds
(US) a wheelbarrow.
(con. 1918) | Battle of Bolts and Nuts 109: I do not think that since the invention of modern methods to remove dirt, has ever such a gigantic project been undertaken to move as much dirt as was dug with a pick, shoveled with a hand shovel and moved in an Irish ambulance, as moved on that job [HDAS].
(US) a wheelbarrow.
AS VIII:3 (1933) 24/2: BUGGY. Wheelbarrow; an Irish baby-buggy. | ‘Prison Dict.’ in||
Dict. Amer. Sl. | ||
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | ||
in DARE. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish baby buggy n [DAS ca 1915] Wheelbarrow; from the stereotype of the Irish laborer. |
(US) a wheelbarrow.
Warren Sheaf (Marshall Cty, MN) 29 June 4/1: Mr Augstein has a new (Irish) buggy. | ||
Mohave County Miner (Mineral Park, AZ) 22 Dec. 5/1: Hank McClure is running the Irish buggy. | ||
letter 30 July Letters from the Nevada Frontier (1992) 211: Last week [...] I had a comical mishap with the wheelbarrow [...] I supposed I was perfection with my ‘Irish buggy’ but I find I have a thing to learn about it yet. | ||
Spokane Press (WA) 4 July 9/5: John Kane, who has been at the police court several times for stealing wheelbarrows [...]seems to have a passion for ‘Irish buggies’. | ||
Scribner’s Mag. LXV 436/1: Ye fair disgoosted me with the way ye cavorted round with that Irish buggy. | ||
Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 39: My part was [...] to pack my little iron pill and my tools into the Irish buggy and wheel it all back to the prison. | ||
AS IV:5 341: Irish buggie — A wheelbarrow. | ‘Vocab. of Bums’ in||
Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 107: Irish Buggy. – A wheelbarrow, another of the many popular references to the Irish worker, always an object of mirth to the public. | ||
Amer. Lang. Supplement I 604: A wheelbarrow was an Irish chariot or buggy, and there was a stock witticism to the effect that it was the greatest of human inventions, since it had taught the Irish to walk on their hind legs. | ||
Deep Enough (1982) 112: There were plenty of offers to help me cart stuff away. it was heavy, and an Irish buggy would have helped. | ||
AS XXXV:4 (Dec.) 270: Phrases in this category that I have heard in actual usage in San Francisco building construction and waterfront employment are: [...] Irish buggy [etc.]. | ‘Dutchman’ in||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish buggy n [DAS ca 1915] Wheelbarrow; from the stereotype of the Irish laborer. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 12: Q. What is an Irish buggy? A. A wheelbarrow. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US) a wheelbarrow.
Amer. Lang. Supplement I 604: A wheelbarrow was an Irish chariot or buggy, and there was a stock witticism to the effect that it was the greatest of human inventions, since it had taught the Irish to walk on their hind legs. |
(US) a wheelbarrow [SAmE local, a local train line].
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish local n [DAS ca 1915] Wheelbarrow; from the stereotype of the Irish laborer. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish local. A wheelbarrow (because it makes so many stops). | ||
Slanguage. |
b. Tools for physical labour
a spade, a shovel.
Army Letters (1903) 73: One company just passed armed with ‘Irish spoons,’ going out to work in the trenches [DA]. | ||
Salt Lake Herald (UT) 3 Dec. 4/4: he helped construct a branch of the B. & M. from Aurora to Grand Island, playing an ‘Irish banjo’. | ||
U. Chicago Mag. 10 301/2: Tolbert being in the Artillery and acting nurse-maid to a bunch of long-haired horses, while Gleeson held an Irish banjo and dug trenches. | ||
Rotarian July 48/2: ‘Guess we’ll set you to strumming an “Irish banjo”’ [...] They handed me a shovel! | ||
One of the Casualities 319: ‘Playin an Irish banjo for the city water department all summer.’ Clay knew that. ‘Wot’s an Irish banjo?’ He grinned. ‘A long-handled shovel, man’ . | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish banjo; Irish spoon n Shovel; from the stereotype of the Irish laborer. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 12: Q. What is an Irish banjo? A. A shovel. |
(US) a spade, a shovel.
DN V 181: Irish fan, n. A shovel. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish fan n Shovel; from the stereotype of the Irish laborer. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish fan. A shovel. |
a hand-car, propelled by pushing a handle backwards and forwards.
DN II 45: [College lingo] Irish local [...] a hand-car. |
a hammer.
Slanguage. | ||
Values in Conflict 80: The strategy might best equate to an Irish screwdriver used to hang a hook. It will get the job done but not without causing significant damage below the surface. |
(US) a pickaxe.
(con. 1920s) South of Heaven (1994) 139: He pointed with the pick handle. ‘Get your ass long-gone or you’ll be digging this Irish toothpick out of it!’. |
a cement mixer.
Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Magic ain’t they? The old Irish tumble-dryer! | ‘Ashes to Ashes’
II. Pertaining to fooda. The potato
a potato.
Sumter Minter (OR) 8 Nov. 5/2: Men were busy at the depot handling sacked Irish apples [...] there were [...] fifty tons of these spuds. | ||
Salt Lake Trib. (UT) 7 Apr. 7/1: South America, the native land of the ‘Irish apple’. | ||
Amer. Thes. Sl. | ||
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | ||
WELS. | ||
Woods Words 95: Irish apples – Potatoes. | ||
in You Owe Yourself a Drunk (1988) 57: Warren came back with a few raw potatoes (Irish apples). | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish apple [...] n Potato. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 210: Synonyms include Irish apple, Irish grape, and Irish lemon. | ||
Slanguage. |
a potato.
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: 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. | |
Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | ||
Spirit of Irish Wit 119: These pills go by various names [...] Munster plumbs [...] Irish apricots. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 23 June 3/2: The Hibernian lay with his [...] mouth open, as if he had wanted an Irish apricot to fill his potato-trap. | ||
Mirror of Lit. XVI 242/1: The ‘darlings’ were now stimulated to a decisive measure, by aiming an Irish apricot at his nodding plume, and shouting out,—‘Devil burn ye, Paddy Barret! will ye lave off speaking to that lady, and listen?’ The potato triumphed. | ||
Jorrocks Jaunts (1874) 147: His cargo [was] ‘timber and fruit,’ as he described it, that is to say, broomsticks and potatoes. | ||
Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | ||
Huddersfield Chron. 16 June 3/5: Aiming an Irish apricot at his nodding plume, and shouting out, ‘Divil burn ye, Paddy Barret!’. | ||
Newcastle Courant 10 Apr. 3/6: ‘Irish apricots’ [...] are potatoes. | ||
Amer. Sl. Dict. 150: Irish apricots [...] potatoes. | ||
N. Platte Semi-wkly Trib. (NE) 14 May 3/3: ‘Irish apricots’ [...] meaning potatoes. | ||
Reno (NV) Eve. Gazette 28 Apr. 2/2: The potato is an ‘Irish apricot’. | ||
Free Trader-Jrnl (Ottowa, IL) 8 Dec. 7/3: Gastronomic Animals [...] Irish apricots or Munster plums are potatoes. | ||
Warren Sheaf (MN) 2 Feb. 2/2: The potato is such an important crop in Ireland that they are jocularly called ‘Irish apricots’. | ||
Und. Speaks. | ||
Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 24 Dec. 4/2: Potatoes defined as ‘Irish apricots’. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish apricot n Potato. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 12: Q. What are Irish apricots? A. Potatoes. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US) a potato.
Report from Engine Company 82 17: Yessir, men, Mrs. O’Mann is cooking Irish footballs tonight. |
a potato.
Adventures of a Bank-note III 157: A belly-full is a belly-ful, though it be only of that [...] Irish wall fruit call’d potatoes. | ||
Sun. Flash (NY) 19 Sept. n.p.: The Irish have a dish they call ‘potatoes and point,’ because the bogtrotters eat the fruit and point at the bacon. | ||
Bell’s Life in Sydney 16 Aug. 3/2: This highly interesting bit of evidence cooked Mr Baker’s Irish fruit. | ||
Sun. Times (Perth) 13 May 1/1: A well-known city man is a whale on potato culture [...] he hopes thereby to acquire a supply of Irishman’s fruit for the winter. | ||
El Paso Herald (TX) 4 Oct. 16/2: Spuds are cheaper. This good Irish fruit has come to the rescue of the common people. |
(US) a potato.
Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: Irish grapes . . . potatoes. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish grape n Potato. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 210: Synonyms include Irish apple, Irish grape, and Irish lemon. | ||
Slanguage. |
1. a potato.
W. Kansas World (Wakeeney, KS) 23 Oct. 1/4: T. Courtney and E. Arnold started [...] to Phillips county, to get each a load of Irish lemons. | ||
Amer. Sl. Dict. 150: Irish lemons, potatoes. | ||
Salt Lake Herald (UT) 16 Sept. 3/4: The Americans are not such great lovers of the Irish lemons. | ||
L.A. Times 9 Apr. 5: ‘Wake up,’ he cried, ‘one brown stone front, side of a funeral; two Irish lemons with all clothes on; plate of punk; an easy smear of axle grease and draw one in the dark, cap it all off with a farmer’s alliance.’. | ||
Red Cloud Chief (Webster Co., NE) 23 Nov. 8/4: Woe unto us that we should see ‘our peerless leader’ [...] for the second time passed up, knocked out, dropped like a red hot Irish lemon. | ||
El Paso Herald (TX) 4 Oct. 16/2: Spuds are cheaper. [...] They were five cents per pound, those Irish lemons. | ||
in DARE. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish lemon n Potato. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 210: Synonyms include Irish apple, Irish grape, and Irish lemon. | ||
Slanguage. |
2. an onion.
Princeton Union (MN) 17 July 3/3: Andrew Umbehocker has two or three acres of onions [...] There is money in raising Irish lemons. |
a potato.
Western Times 4 Apr. 3/1: For all those cruel billious [sic] pains [...] were caused by eating semi-cooked The Irish Root. | ||
Morn. Chron. (London) 17 Nov. 5/5: The wheat looks queer, the murphies ill [...] the ‘accursed Irish root’. | ||
Sunbury Ameclurican (PA) 17 Sept. 1/2: Now hunger makes ‘his bowels yearn,’ / For ‘yams’ or ‘Irish roots’. | ||
Manchester Eve. News 17 June 2/4: If [...] ‘potato whisky’ is useful [...] we might as well patronise the produce of the Irish root, as go to Bremen for it. |
b. Other foodstuffs
(US) a carrot.
AS XI:1 43: IRISH CHERRIES. Carrots. | ‘Linguistic Concoctions of the Soda Jerker’ in||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish cherry. A carrot. |
(US) a drink containing a substance that causes unconsciousness.
Browser’s Dict. 248: Mickey Finn...Irish cocktail. |
(US) cooked codfish.
Night Side of N.Y. 79: ‘Irish goose’ is codfish, baked or boiled. |
tough, undercooked salt beef.
Roderick Random (1979) 185: Our provision consisted of putrid salt beef, to which the sailors gave the name of Irish horse. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish horse n Salt beef or tough corned beef. | ||
Slanguage. |
(UK und.) ? butter.
Flash Mirror 4: The Bug Walk [...] This house is a pannum supply; where can be had [...] a small starver and Irish jewels for a win. |
(US) fried potato wedges and (refried) beans.
ADS-L 28 Feb. 🌐 IRISH NACHOS — ‘wedges & beans,’ according to one menu. These were a regular feature at the Scott, Foresman corporate cafeteria in Glenview, Illinois for at least the years 1995–2000. They were wedge fries covered with refried beans, cheese, and salsa. I was always too frightened of the way they looked under the presentation glass dome to try them, and besides, I thought I should fight against the stereotype of the Irish as inveterate potato-eaters. |
whisky.
Purgatorium Hibernicum 38: A Constant whifler and a Smoker / He was I and as true a Soaker / [...] / And many a Coge of Irish Nectar / God knows they tops together . |
(US) corned (UK: salt) beef and cabbage.
‘Rafferty’s Party’ in Donnybrook-Fair Comic Songster 51: Upon the table was laid a grand supper – / Real Irish turkey, caught in the sea; / Corned beef and cabbage, skellians and butter. | ||
Daily Honolulu Press (HI) 11 Dec. 3/2: ‘Irish Turkey’ [...] formed one of the items of the buill of fare at a Nuuanu Street retaurant yesterday noon. An Irish gentleman [...] said he would ‘try some of the turkey.’ He was promptly served with a fine plate of California cabbage and several neatly sliced pieces of corned beef. | ||
in Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 23 July 3: I’d been better off if I’d let it go at dat an’ stuck ter de Irish turkey – ah, corned beef, ain’t yer on? – wot Her Nobs hands out reg’lar. | ||
N.Y. Times 24 Mar. SM2: ‘If corned beef is Irish turkey, what is macaroni?’ ‘Ginney-hen.’. | ||
Choice Sl. 86: New York Bowery Slang...Irish turkey — Corned beef . | ||
AS I:12 651: Irish turkey — corned beef and cabbage. | ‘Hobo Lingo’ in||
TAD Lex. (1993) 49: I’m gonna play the old C.B. and C. I can eat Irish turkey 4 times a day. | in Zwilling||
Wash. Post 2 Apr. C6: Alas and alack for all the hymns to ‘red mike and violets’ and ‘Irish turkey,’ corned beef and cabbage is not now and never was an Irish dish. Its origins are as American as apple pie and as Yankee as the clambake. | ||
Mrs Astor’s Horse 134: Strong men [. . .] will continue to [...] hie to their favorite plain restaurant and order the usual steak and potatoes, lamb chops, broiled chicken or corned beef and cabbage (‘Irish turkey’). | ||
AS XIX:2 106: Irish turkey is stew. | ‘Vocabulary for Lakes, [etc.]’||
World’s Toughest Prison 805: irish turkey – Corned beef. | ||
Maledicta III:2 163: Irish turkey n [DAS ca 1935] Corned beef and cabbage, any hash. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish turkey. Corned beef and cabbage (tramp talk); hash (Army talk). | ||
Slanguage. |
(US short order) beef stew.
Ft Wayne News (IN) 2 Feb. 7/1: Bowery Eating House Lingo [...] beef stew, ‘mixed Irish’. |
III. Pertaining to sex
In compounds
1. a shillelagh, thus the penis.
Spy on Mother Midnight I 28: I know most Ladies, who all now wear Sticks, are fond of a three-corner’d Irish Cane; but, take my Word on't, the knowing Ones are better pleas'd with a Yorkshire Hunter of a middle Size, which I take to be seven, or at most, eight Inches. |
2. (US gay) a sophisticated, expensive brothel.
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. | ||
Maledicta IX 57: Irish clubhouse n [L] Refined house of prostitution. | ||
Slanguage. |
3. see also general compounds below.
1. semen spilled outside the vagina (through coitus interruptus practised by pious Catholics).
Maledicta IX 57: Irish confetti n [L] Semen spilled extravaginally. | ||
Slanguage. |
2. see also violence compounds below.
3. see also general compounds below.
(gay) sexual intercourse.
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. | ||
Maledicta IX 57: Irish dip n [L] 1: ‘Cure for bashfulness with the girls’ 2: Sexual intercourse. | ||
Slanguage. |
the state of having a small penis.
Yes We Have No 82: I bet you’ve got Irish disease, you Micks are all the same. |
the vagina.
Sl. and Its Analogues IV 14/1: Irish-Fortune, subs. (old). – A cunt and pattens. | ||
Slanguage. |
(gay) an impotent penis.
Maledicta IX 57: Irish horse n [L] Impotent penis. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US) the erect penis.
Fort Apache, The Bronx 35: He goes and hangs around the Catholic school. Gets those twelve year olds with big tits. [...] ‘I wanna find out what they eat to make their tits grow so I can feed it to my wife.’ ‘They eat the Irish inch.’. | ||
Irish Smuggler [ebook] ‘Your race is known for small penises, the Irish inch, are you not?’ Jan giggled. |
a lengthy session of sexual intercourse.
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. | ||
Maledicta IX 57: Irish marathon n [L] Extended session of lovemaking. | ||
Slanguage. |
(W.I.) a young man who is ‘kept’ by an older woman.
Official Dancehall Dict. 26: Irish potato the term given to the young men dated by older women, a ‘kept’ young man. |
(gay) masturbation.
Maledicta IX 57: Irish promotion n [L] Masturbation. |
sexual detumescence.
Maledicta IX 57: Irish rise n [L] Sexual detumescence. | ||
Slanguage. |
the penis.
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish root. The penis. | ||
Slanguage. |
1. an erection.
‘Three Chums’ in Boudoir I 2: The sight of this pretty Fanny [...] makes me feel quite so-so. In fact that girl has given me the Irish toothache. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish toothache. Depending on context: (1) A persistent erection; (2) Pregnancy. | ||
Slanguage. | ||
Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: Irish toothache n. An erection; bone. As in: ‘Is that a gun in your pocket, or have you just got Irish toothache?’. | ||
Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz Apr. 47: dutch salute n. An Irish toothache. |
2. pregnancy.
Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 156/2: I. T. A. (Peoples’). Euphemism for Irish toothache. [Ibid.] 158/1: Irish toothache (Peoples’). Enceinte. | ||
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish toothache. Depending on context: (1) A persistent erection; (2) Pregnancy. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US gay) the erect penis.
Maledicta IX 57: Irish toothpick n [L] Erect penis of a sodomite. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US) one who is a virgin and is likely to remain one.
Maledicta III:2 163: Irish virgin n One likely to remain a virgin. |
heterosexual anal intercourse.
Maledicta II:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 161: The Irish Way Heterosexual anal intercourse [...] to prevent pregnancy. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish way, the. Anal intercourse between man and woman (a form of birth control). | ||
Slanguage. |
(gay) masturbation.
Maledicta IX 57: Irish wedding n [L] Masturbation. |
sexual intercourse.
Maronides (1678) V Epistle: If they should see Virgil himself now playing at the serious game of Irish. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues IV 14/2: Irish-Whist, (where the Jack takes the Ace), [...] (venery). – Copulation. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish whist. Copulation. | ||
Slanguage. |
In phrases
see under dance v.
of a woman, to have sexual intercourse.
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 76: Consoler. To copulate; ‘to give a hot poultice for the Irish toothache’. |
of a man, homosexual.
Queens’ Vernacular. | ||
Maledicta III:2 253: Catchphrases [...] Irish by birth, Greek by injection. | ||
Maledicta IX 194: [as prev.] . | ||
Slanguage. |
to have sexual intercourse.
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 75: Connaitre. To copulate; ‘to play at Irish whist (where the Jack takes the ace)’. | ||
Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 189: To play Irish whist is when the Jack takes the Ace. |
IV. Pertaining to lack of sophistication
1. a blow.
Leicester Jrnl 12 Aug. 3/1: The complainant on going to see the fun, received an Irish compliment on his pate, which knocked him down. |
2. a back-handed compliment.
Bristol Mercury 30 Apr. 5/4: Lord Rosebery [...] evoked from the Lord Chief Justice the ingenious Irish compliment that in the number of duties he performed he resembled the Boer in his versatility. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish compliment. A backhanded one. |
the obituary columns in a newspaper.
Boston Observed 246: The obituary columns of local newspapers have long been known as the ‘Irish funnies’ . | ||
in DARE III 455/1: In the Boston area, Irish funnies means the obituary columns in the newspapers. | ||
Pensacola News Jrnl (FL) 29 Aug. 3/1: My uncle used to call the obituaries the ‘Irish funnies’. | ||
Star trib. (Minneapolis, MN) 9 Aug. 25/1: Panegyrics, threnodies, [...] obituaries or the Irish funny papers [...] write-ups of the dead remain constant. | ||
Chronicle-Telegram (Elyria, OH) 22 Mar. E8/5: If, like me, you are a regular reader of the obituary pages (the Irish sports pages, as the Irish call them), you will find, I think, that if you want to live a long life the best things to be are, in order, rich, a symphony orchestra conductor or a world-class politician. | ||
Pensacola News Jrnl (FL) 5 Oct. 19: [headline] For those aware of their age, the ‘Irish funnies’ are no laughing matter. |
(US) a very broad hint.
Early Amer. Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases (1977) 234: I believe there will not be the least danger of my getting an Irish hint as they call it. | ||
letter 14 June in Meline & McSween Story of the Mountain (1948) 150: I could find many things to say on this subject were I present tete-a-tete, but for the present I shall content myself with having dropped an Irish hint. | ||
Novellettes I 8: Various young men, [...] intimated, in what might be called Irish hints that they had espied the worthy Mr. Hunt [DAE]. | ||
Boon’s Lick Times (Fayette, MO) 17 Nov. The Clique gave him the Irish hint! Not heard all of this!: | ||
Anderson Intelligencer (SC) 4 Oct. 1/7: It would take regular Irish hints to encourage a farmer to do anything . | ||
Salt Lake Herald (UT) 22 Mar. 4/1: Thesr rumors look very much like Irish hints, which Mr Folger ought to take in that light. | ||
Morn. Call (San Francisco) 17 Nov. 3/4: The following letter was written November 6, 1891 [...] Dear Charlie: It can’t be possible that you are throwing me an ‘Irish hint’. | ||
Times (Richmond, VA) 8 Nov. 4/2: Chairman Jones’ refusal to give up the fight may be altered by an Irish hint from his party to retire. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish hint n [DA 1834] Very broad hint; from the stereotype of Irish ignorance. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish hint. A broad one. | ||
www.eleven-a-side.com 8 Apr. 🌐 Nolan drops Irish hint. Bolton Wanderers midfielder Kevin Nolan [...] has dropped the biggest hint yet that he may be persuaded to change allegiance and declare for the Republic of Ireland. |
a demotion, a cut in one’s pay.
Translators Revived 89: When Archbishop Whitgift wished the new Master ‘joy of his place,’ the latter replied that it was ‘terminus diminuens;’ which is Latin for ‘an Irish promotion,’ or a ‘hoist down hill’. | ||
Chamber’s Jrnl 53 282/1: Bye, bye, boys; I am going before the stick, and have got Irish promotion. But I ’ve not done yet; so some of you look out. | ||
Salt Lake Herald (UT) 24 Oct. 8/2: It is understood that the brakeman has received an Irish promotion. | ||
McCook Trib. (NE) 13 Feb. 1/3: The commotion, arising from a reduction in forces and several Irish promotions, has about subsided. | ||
Indep. (Honolulu) 27 Apr. 2/1: Such an ‘rish promotion’ has taken place [...] that Colonel Iaukea has been transmogrified into Major Iaukea. | ||
Indep. (Honolulu) 26 June 2/2: We hope they will set the apparent discourtesy of our Executive down to the fact that he [...] has recently got an Irish promotion. | ||
Eve. Bulletin (Honolulu) 21 July 6/3: The change has been in the nature of an Irish promotion. | ||
NY Tribune 30 Oct. 8/7: He got what is known on the other side as an Irish promotion. | ||
Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 4 Mar. 8/4: This is a mixture of Devon economy and Irish promotion that can hardly be swallowed. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish promotion (or raise). A demotion or pay cut. |
a cut in one’s pay.
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 86: IRISH RISE: a rise in wages in an inverse manner, i.e. a reduction. | ||
Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 222: Irishman’s rise [...] What has Lofty been up to to get a probationer’s job. | ||
Maledicta III:2 163: Irish raise n No raise at all. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish promotion (or raise). A demotion or pay cut. | ||
Slanguage. |
the act of defecation.
‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 451: Irish shave, The act of defecation. | ||
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 114: have an Irish shave To go to the toilet. | ||
Maledicta III:2 163: Irish shave n Defecation. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish shave. A defecation. | ||
Slanguage. | ||
Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: Irish shave n. A dump. |
see Irish funnies
(US) the turning or reversing of a garment or other object to hide rather than actually remove the dirt.
in DARE. |
V. Pertaining to physique
In compounds
thick legs.
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Irish legs, thick legs, jocularly stiled the Irish arms. | ||
The Irish Arms; a large pair of lusty legs. | Honest Fellow 4: Another [inn] sign [...]||
Real Life in Ireland 291: She showed a pair of Irish, heavy to sight, but quick in running, and bolted into the other room. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 210: Irish arms. Legs, especially thick ones. | ||
Slanguage. |
the throat.
Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. x vi: Well, here’s down the Irish channel. Varlet, fill up the flagons again. |
drooping female breasts.
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. | ||
Maledicta IX 57: Irish draperies n [L] Pendulous breasts. | ||
Slanguage. |
heavy female legs.
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Irish legs, thick legs, jocularly stiled the Irish arms. It is said of the Irish women, that they have a dispensation from the pope, to wear the thick end of their legs downwards. | ||
Dict. Sl. and Cant. | ||
Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1785]. | ||
Modern Flash Dict. | ||
Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | ||
Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 21 Sept. 3/1: [of either gender] The steepness of the ascent [...] appears to have been contructed ‘to bidf defiance to all things in this world, save a broad-wheeled wagon or a p[air of Irish legs’. | ||
Maledicta IX 57: Irish legs n [L] Heavy female legs. | ||
Slanguage. |
(UK Und.) thick, clumsy legs.
New and Improved Flash Dict. |
(US) a red face.
All the Trouble in the World 286: At the radio station Christmas party, every skin shade possible was represented from sable to much lighter than my purple Irish sunburn. | ||
Hard Bounce [ebook] Junior stomped across the parking lot, his temper giving him an Irish sunburn. |
VI. Pertaining to violence
a woman with a pair of black eyes.
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn). | ||
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Londres et les Anglais 315/2: irish beauty, jeune fille aux yeux noirs. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Maledicta IX 56: Irish beauty n [D] Woman with black eyes. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US) any form of projectile, usu. a stone or brick.
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words 16: A stone or rock or any other implement suitable for cracking skulls...Irish bouquet. |
1. (also confetti) bricks, esp. as thrown during riots; cite 1932 refers to a piece of iron.
Gainesville Dly Sun (FL) 1 Aug. 4/1: Who is lacking [...] a good brick, whether it shelters us from the blast of wintrer or comes to us in the form of Irish confettiw . | ||
Prison Walls 312: I am personally acquainted with a party who could throw a piece of Irish confetti up in the air, and who, if he didn’t duck, would get it on his conk and be reminded of old times. | ||
in Lost Squadron 68: Kindly check all cabbages, Irish confetti, and decayed henfruit at the door. | ||
Eve. World (NY) 3 Oct. 18/7: On the hudson River yesterday I saw a large flat barge loaded with Irish confetti. | ||
Dict. Amer. Sl. | ||
Hull Dly Mail 10 Aug. 6/3: A piece of iron was produced [...] a woman who said she was of irish descent said she had been struck on the head with it [...] A piece of Irish confetti. | ||
Living Rough 255: It was a real battle – brass-knuckles, blackjacks, lead pipes, studded clubs, Irish confetti. | ||
et al. Gumbo Ya-Ya 50: There will be those who agree and those who will not, and, even at this late date, Irish confetti may fly [DARE]. | ||
N.Y. Times 3 Sept. 30: Saskatchewan Confetti [headline] The Saskatchewan Government is building a new brick plant [W&F]. | ||
AS XXXV:4 (Dec.) 270: Phrases in this category that I have heard in actual usage in San Francisco building construction and waterfront employment are: [...] Irish confetti. | ‘Dutchman’ in||
Observer (London) 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.’ . | ||
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish confetti. Bricks. | ||
City in Sl. (1995) 46: The [racial] slur continued with Irish confetti, popular term for paving stones [...] These brickbats were pried loose and thrown as weapons in the mid-nineteenth century street riots of Irish gangs. | ||
Slanguage. | ||
Pound for Pound 15: Irish confetti – the old mick term for bricks. |
2. see also sex compounds above.
3. see also general compounds below.
a kick in the behind.
Yale Literary Mag. VIII 363: Ephraim [...] projected him from the extremity of his indignant foot, through a curved line, which has received the technical appellation, ‘Irish hoist’ [DA]. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish hoist n [DA ca 1800] Kick in the backside; also, an awkward fall; from the stereotype of the crude, brawling Irishman. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish hoist. A kick in the pants. | ||
Slanguage. |
a challenge to a duel.
Sporting Mag. May IV 119/2: [He] gave him what he terms an Irish invitation to breakfast [...] bread, butter, tea, eggs, and pistols for two. |
(Aus.) the use of a shotgun.
How to Shoot Friends 79: I am the holder of the black belt in Irish karate, skilled in the ancient Irish art of letting go with the sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun through the dunny door, then running like hell. |
a heated argument.
Dark Ship 151: When exchanges become too warm between members of the staff Joe sometimes says, ‘Let’s not have an Irish parliament here!’. |
(US) a stone, for throwing.
(con. 1910s) A Corporal Once 240: ‘Here’s an Irish Rose for ye, ye blagyard!’ muttered Dugan, and hurled a stone at the shadowy form. |
1. (US) shooting a victim through the knees, hands and shoulders [? IRA punishment shootings].
ThugLit Mar. [ebook] ‘I’m going to shoot the boy here in his knees. Then I’m going to shoot him in his hands. Then I’m going to shoot him in shoulders. He going to get the Irish six-pack’. | ‘The Rat & the Cobra’ in
2. (US) a six-pack of beer, taken to a party, but from which one can has already been drunk .
Urban Dict. 13 June 🌐 Irish Six-Pack The act of bringing a six-pack of beer to a party with only five beers left in it, because you drank one before you got there. |
any boisterous occasion and not necessarily a wake.
Clockmaker II 75: A kind of Irish wake [...] a rael, right down, genuine hysteric frolic, near about as much cryin’ as laughin’. | ||
Maledicta III:2 163: Irish wake n 1: Festive funeral procession 2: Any boisterous affair. | ||
Slanguage. |
a brawl, ‘where black eyes are given instead of favours’ (Grose 1796).
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: You have been at an Irish wedding, where black eyes are given (instead of) or for favors; saying to one who has a black eye. | ||
, | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn) n.p.: | |
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 106: One with a black eye is said to have been ‘at an Irish wedding, where they give black eyes for bride-favours.’. | ||
Holmes Co. republican (Millersburg, OH) 22 Sept. 2/6: At the late Syracuse Convention [...] ‘Irish weddings’ were plenty [...] blows were struck, the wildest excitement prevailed. | ||
[ | Edinburgh Eve. News 15 Oct. 4/4: An Irish wedding without a broken head was a very extraordinary thing]. | |
Semi-Wkly Interior Jrnl (Stanford, KY) 23 Jan. 3/2: Looking very much as if her had been to an Irish wedding [...] the horses [...] became frightened [...] and ran off, throwing him out and cutting his head and face. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues IV 14/2: To have danced at an Irish wedding [...] To have got two black eyes. | ||
Lexington Gaz. (VA) 20 Feb. 3/5: Tonight he has a ‘bunged eye’ which reminds one of a souvenir of an Irish wedding. | ||
Jackson Herald (MO) 31 Dec. 1/3: Two of our citizens decided to have a little fun by having an ‘rish wedding’, which caused one to get his eye blackened. |
VII. General uses
In compounds
(US) a supposed disease in which the sufferer forgets everything but their grudges.
N.Y. Post 19 Feb. n.p.: More than four decades of knowing [Richard Harris] — it’s a shock to find out he is suffering from Irish Alzheimer’s disease, where you forget everything except your grudges. | ||
Urban Dict. 15 July 🌐 irish amnesia forgive, but don’t forget. | ||
N.Y. Times 15 Mar. n.p.: Irish Alzheimer’s, goes the joke, is to forget everything but the grudges. | ||
The Force [ebook] ‘Do you know about Irish Alzheimer’s?’ Malone asks. [...] ‘You forget everything but the grudges’. | ||
Twitter 6 Nov. 🌐 ‘He certainly has Irish Alzheimer’s. He forgets everything except the grudges. He definitely remembers all the grudges.’ <-- outdated cultural slur. |
boldness, shamelessness.
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Irish assurance; a bold forward behaviour. | |
Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Slanguage. |
any form of exchange where one side gains disproportionately more than the other; thus no bargain .
Farmer 49: ’Pon my Honour, here’s a fine Irish Bargain; all Borrowers but no Lenders. | ||
Angling Excursions 93: The tranquillizing expedient of an Irish bargain, that of ‘splitting the difference’. | ||
Hansard 11 Feb. 505/2: That would be like Sir Boyle Roche’s description of an Irish bargain, where all the mutuality was on one side. |
1. (US) a police station [plays on SE club, association/club to hit, i.e. police violence].
Times (Wash., DC) 22 Aug. 15/6: I meets a boy in blue. I told him how it wuz, and got a wallop with the bat. He drove me over to the Irish clubhouse. | ||
Life In Sing Sing 260: His rod to my nut turned me into the Irish Club House. | ||
Amer. Law Rev. LII (1918) 891: An ‘Irish clubhouse’ is the police station. | ‘Criminal Sl.’ in||
Adventures of a Scholar Tramp 20: A bull comes round [...] and escorts you to the hoosegow – or Irish Club-house if you prefer a chummy word. | ||
Und. Speaks. | ||
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish clubhouse. A police station. |
2. see also sex compounds above.
1. (N.Z.) gravel, stones.
Pushed from the Wings (1989) 107: I’ll shower your thick head with Irish confetti. | ||
Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
2. see also sex compounds above.
3. see also violence compounds above.
insincerity, crocodile tears (cf. weep Irish v.).
Bickerstaff’s Burying n.p.: What the devil can be the matter? Why all this noise? here’s none but friends; I don’t apprehend that anybody can overhear you; this is something like the Irish cry [F&H]. |
(Aus./US) cobwebs.
Truth (Brisbane) 28 Sept. 2/3: Where’s ‘Long ’Un’ got to? Has he got tangled up in those Irish curtains? | ||
in DARE. | ||
Lily on the Dustbin 22: You’ll have rooms ‘all over the place like a madwoman’s breakfast’ and windows festooned with ‘Irish curtains’ (cobwebs). | ||
Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
cobwebs.
Times (Philadelphia, PA) 1 Oct. 23/3: [The house] was twined and festooned with Irish draperies [...] We lost no time in christening our new boudoir ‘Cobweb Hall’. | ||
Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era. | ||
Chicago Trib. 20 Feb. 8/2: It is a surprise [...] to a visitor from Ireland in this country to hear cobwebs alluded to as ‘Irish draperies’ or tatters as Irish fringe. | ||
in Maine Lingo. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish draperies. Cobwebs. | ||
Slanguage. |
a perjuring witness; perjury.
Proc. Old Bailey 1 May 8/2: The Prisoner deny’d the Fact and brought a Tatterdemallion, who like Irish evidence, swore the prisoner was not the Woman came in with the Boy. | ||
Proc. Old Bailey 25 Apr. 7/1: Several Irish Evidence appear'd in the Prisoner’s behalf, but the Jury found him Guilty. | ||
Proc. Old Bailey 27 Feb. 95/1: You are an Irish evidence. | ||
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | |
Lex. Balatronicum. | ||
Modern Flash Dict. | ||
Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open. | ||
New and Improved Flash Dict. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 211: Irish evidence. Perjury. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US) a diaper, a nappy.
in DARE. |
a halfpenny.
Teagueland Jests I 97: He had lain ina Bawdy-house [...] and spent his estate of four Irish Half-Crowns there. | ||
Teagueland Jests I 101: Patrick was in great Fumigation, because none would take up his Bet of Half-penny-half-Crowns. |
a spider’s web.
WELS Suppl. | ||
in DARE. | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish lace n Spider web. | ||
Slanguage. |
(N.Z.) a wild pig.
Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
(US und.) a crooked gambling game that guarantees that the dealer wins; ? a version of three-card monte n. (1)
Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 53: I'm goin' to deal a little Irish monte right there an’ then an’ collect the price of a fresh set of scenery. |
1. (US) a rope.
United Service Apr. 442: I should have known what is meant by an ‘Irish dividend’ or an ‘Irish necktie’ if I had never been aboard a vessel of war [HDAS]. |
2. (US) a bearded running along and below the neckline (cf. Newgate collar under Newgate n.
Phila. Inquirer (PA) 19 Sept. 1/3: His upper lip was shaven, but a short gray beard fringed his under jaw in the fashion known as ‘an Irish necktie’. | ||
(ref. to late 19C) Plainfield Courier-News (NJ) 2 June sect. 2 13: [headline] Do You Remember When? You Wore an ‘Irish necktie’? |
(US) a bullfrog.
DN II 142: Irish nightingale, n. Bull frog. | ||
Amer. Thes. Sl. | ||
(ref. to 1850s) | America Talking 136: In the 1850s [...] humorous terms mocking the Irish began to multiply, as [...] Irish nightingale, a bullfrog (based on the Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind, who made a highly publicized concert tour of America 1850–52).
(US) a fainting fit, esp. a pretended one.
‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 451: Irish pasture, A state of coma. ‘I socked that dick into the Irish pasture’. | ||
Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 107: Irish Pasture. – A faint or coma. | ||
Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | ||
Maledicta III:2 162: Irish pasture n Faint, especially a pretended one. |
a small toothcomb.
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Slanguage. |
(US) political hypocrisy.
Maledicta III:2 163: Irish shift; Irish switch n [Cray 1960] Political hypocrisy; pretense. | ||
Slanguage. |
a route that appears longer but is supposedly really quicker.
Viva La Madness 147: The taxi driver tells him he’s gonna take an Irish short cut — it’s longer but it’s quicker. |
(US) substituting deodorant or similar body spray for a wash with soap and water.
Urban Dict. 2 Oct. 🌐 Irish Shower The use of deoderant [sic] and/or cologne to cover up lack of proper showering. ‘Woke up late for work so I had to go the Irish shower route’. | ||
Hard Bounce [ebook] I still reeked. Junior kept a pint of cheap cologne in his drawer, and I tried to cover up the rest with an Irish shower. |
(US) the tattered edge of a garment or piece of fabric.
Chicago Trib. 20 Feb. 8/2: It is a surprise [...] to a visitor from Ireland in this country to hear cobwebs alluded to as ‘Irish draperies’ or tatters as Irish fringe. |
(US) two siblings born within a 12-month period (note cite 2021 for ext. uses).
Louisville Dly Courier (KY) 4 June 2/2: [used fig. of combining a job with childcare] We find ourselves quite unequal to the task of managing our Irish twins. So long as the Visitor [a newspaper] was our only baby we did not find the nursing and tending of it [...] a very difficult matter [...] but since baby Nettie has come [etc]. | ||
Leavenworth Times (KS) 5 June 7/3: Queen Victoria sends £5 o every English mother on the occasion of her first twins. Doubtless she does not feel that it is incumbent upon her to offer a dollar premium for Irish twins. | ||
Hist. of the Fighting Fourteenth 223: There were about ten children, Irish twins, i. e., about one year difference in their ages, and they were allowed to run wild, as dirty as pigs. | ||
L.A. Times 25 Apr. C13/4: These mental gymnastics are humanized by her activities as the mother of seven children, including ‘Irish twins,’ born less than a year apart. | ||
Wash. Post 18 Nov. D1/3: My sons are so-called ‘Irish twins,’ two days less than a year apart, but physically and emotionally they are opposites. | ||
Happy Meek 194: Margaret and Wolfe Junior were Irish twins, born eleven months apart [DARE]. | ||
Pennsylvania Intelligencer (Boylestown, PA) 23 Oct. C1/6: Having two children as close as 10 to 18 months is comparable to having unequal twins, and they are even called ‘Irish twins’. | ||
Betrayal in Blue 138: We go next door, and two young teen boys, brothers, Irish twins, like nine months apart. | ||
Betoota-isms 68: Irish Twins [...] 1. Male siblings born less than twelve months apart 2. Local scallywags, often suspended or caught skipping school 3. Rhyming names e.g. Cayden & Jaiden, Daxton & Ashton. | ||
Empty Wigs (t/s) 595: Two of Valentine’s nephews and nieces were older than he was, such was the age difference between the four sisters, ‘Irish twins’, and the benjamin, their ‘baby brother’. |
the emptying of a cesspool.
Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 106: Irish wedding — a necessary emptying of a bog-house, derived from the similarity of fogo at such celebrations. | ||
Sl. and Its Analogues. | ||
Dict. of Invective (1991) 212: Irish wedding. Emptying a cesspool. | ||
Slanguage. |
keening.
‘Iter Hibernicum’ in Carpenter Verse in English from Tudor & Stuart Eng. (2003) 387: And what to make of’t could not tell / When first they heard the Irish Yell. |
SE in general slang uses
In phrases
quintessentially Irish.
Topeka Dly Capital (KS) 24 Nov. 12/5: [advert] Table Napkins. All as Irish as Paddy’s pig, but a little more white, every thread pure linen. | ||
Eve. Transcript (San Bernadino, CA) 9 Nov. 2/5: Byrne and Chambers, while not quite as Irish as Paddy’s pig, still have a warm feeling for ‘Ould Ireland’. | ||
L.A. Times 17 Apr. 20/1: English your grandmother! She is as Irish as Paddy Murphy’s pig. | ||
Newton Enterprise (NC) 4 May 4/3: The clan O’Hara, as sturdy stock as ever sprang from the ‘ould sod’and ‘as Irish as Paddy’s pig’. | ||
Harrisburg Teleg. (PA) 8 July 24/1: ‘I am as Irish as Paddy Murphy’s pig and I want to get back among the Irish’. | ||
Runyon Says [synd. col.] Mr John ‘Beans’ Reardon, slim, dapper, and as Irish as Paddy’s pig. | ||
St Cloud Times (MN) 6 Feb. 4/3: In the senate there are at least 17 names as unmistakeably Irish as Paddy’s pig. [...] Guffey, Donahey, Lonergan, [etc]. | ||
Morn. News (Wilmington, DE) 10 Mar. 16/6: The celebration of St Patrick’s day isn’t limited to those who are ‘as Irish as Paddy’s pig’. | ||
Hartford Courant (CT) 21 Jan. 18/1: Concerning the nationalities of last night’s cast [...] They may be as Irish as Paddy Murphy’s pig [but] they fail to ring the bell. | ||
Hartford Courant (CT) 11 June 6/9: James Ahern as [...] the timid suitor, is as Irish as Paddy Murphy’s pig. | ||
Miami News (FL) 28 Apr. 2C/2: The Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin, who as the saying goes, is as Irish as Paddy’s pig. | ||
Pesacola News Jrnl (FL) 27 June 39/1: The name O’Reilly is as Irish as Paddy Murphy’s pig. | ||
Morn. Call (Allentown, PA) 8 Mar. 29/7: Here’s something as Irish as ‘Paddy’s pig.’ Mulligan Stew. | ||
Up and Down Under 38: Our respective bosses [...] were as Irish as Paddy’s pig. | ||
DSUE (8th edn) 600/1: from ca. 1890. | ||
Christian Science Monitor 27 Feb. 🌐 So there was a young man who lived in South Boston, Mass., and he was as Irish as Paddy Murphy’s pig. | ||
(con. 1954) Tomato Can Comeback [ebook] I was able to get Father Tim Brophy on the line. He sounded Irish as Paddy’s pig. |