People who talk “blarney” are saying things they do not mean. Usually the expression blarney is applied to flattery designed to gain a favor.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then it's the Blarney stone and four generations of one family living in the same house.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 18, 2013
The timekeepers must have kissed the Blarney stone.
From Time Magazine Archive
"He'll also tell you that I lived quite forty miles from the Blarney stone!"
From The Gambler A Novel by Thurston, Katherine Cecil
Blarney stone, a stone in Blarney castle, Ireland, said to make those who kiss it proficient in the use of blarney.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah
As for the Blarney stone, his previous actions toward it must have been pronounced.
From The Voice of the City: Further Stories of the Four Million by Henry, O.
There I was, dancing a wild Irish jig to a live Irish band in Blarney Stone, a small, energetic pub in Fountain Valley on the evening of March 17.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
Here’s Kathleen Kennedy, awkwardly twisting upside down in a skirt to kiss Ireland’s Blarney Stone.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 17, 2018
And for a plot, the holiday homecoming is as worn as the Blarney Stone.
From Washington Post ● May 5, 2015
“I wouldn’t tell anyone about the Blarney Stone gatherings,” Riska said.
From New York Times ● Dec. 10, 2010
I can’t wait to show them my wooden shoes from Holland, my Blarney Stone from Ireland and all the pictures.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
