mavourneen
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of mavourneen
First recorded in 1790–1800, mavourneen is from Irish mo mhuirnín “my darling”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He kept saying, Rasheen, Rasheen, mavourneen mean, and the song made no sense because his father dropped him on his head long ago and every time he sang that song he had different words.
From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt
I dreamed a dream, mavourneen, I dreamed a dream yestreen, That I was King in Kerry, and you were Galway’s Queen.
From Sprays of Shamrock by Scollard, Clinton
And then, at the first “letting go,” back would come the same engrossing memory: “Mavourneen, mavourneen, bears have understanding when they love as I love you.”
From Paddy-The-Next-Best-Thing by Page, Gertrude
“Funny things, eh, mavourneen, what sort of things?”
From The Island Queen by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
Can you, Ellen, mavourneen, contemplate this last vision, and not be moved to the thought that such end for God-endowed spirits, destined to complete each other's lives, were indeed a fearful sacrifice?
From Donald McElroy, Scotch Irishman by Caldwell, Willie Walker
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.
