Molly Maguire
Americannoun
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Irish History. a member of a secret terrorist society organized in Ireland in 1843 to prevent evictions by the government: so called because the members disguised themselves as women.
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U.S. History. a member of a former secret association, organized about 1865, that terrorized the mine operators' agents in an effort to get relief from oppressive conditions in the anthracite coal-mining regions of Pennsylvania: ceased to function about 1877.
noun
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Irish history a member of a secret society that terrorized law officers during the 1840s to prevent evictions
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(in Pennsylvania from about 1865 to 1877) a member of a society of miners that terrorized mine owners and their agents in an effort to obtain better pay
Etymology
Origin of Molly Maguire
An Americanism dating back to 1865–70
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.
One condemned Molly Maguire proclaimed innocence while mashing a dirty handprint into the wall of his cell, where he said it would remain as long as the Mauch Chunk jail kept standing.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 30, 2018
He got up that Molly Maguire series for the new cleaning fluid.
From The "Genius" by Theodore Dreiser
Molly Maguire was there, and all her children around her, gaping.
From The Case of Jennie Brice by M. Leone Bracker
The sight of Molly Maguire, next door, at the window, rubbing and brushing at the fur coat, only made things worse.
From The Case of Jennie Brice by M. Leone Bracker
When I went down-stairs, Molly Maguire was waiting in the kitchen, and had the audacity to ask me if I thought the coat needed a new lining!
From The Case of Jennie Brice by M. Leone Bracker
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.
