Orangeman
- a member of a secret society formed in the north of Ireland in 1795, having as its object the maintenance and political ascendancy of Protestantism.
- a Protestant of Northern Ireland.
Origin of Orangeman
Examples from the Web for orangemen
Historical Examples
The men who really know Orangemen knew that no precautions were needed.
Ireland as It IsRobert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
It should be remembered that all Ulstermen are not Orangemen.
Ireland as It IsRobert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
Their places were filled by five Orangemen of the most determined kind.
The Red Hand of UlsterGeorge A. Birmingham
The report is that the Orangemen are quite triumphant and insolent.
Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1)Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
Anyway, I have ascertained that the greater proportion of the Orangemen were sober.
Prescott of SaskatchewanHarold Bindloss
Orangeman
- a member of a society founded in Ireland (1795) to uphold the Protestant religion, the Protestant dynasty, and the Protestant constitution. Orange Lodges have since spread to many parts of the former British Empire
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for orangemen
Orangemen
n.
secret society founded 1795 in Belfast to promote Protestant power in Northern Ireland, named for William of Orange (who became King William III of England and triumphed in Ireland at the head of a Protestant army at the Battle of the Boyne), of the German House of Nassau. His cousins and their descendants constitute the royal line of Holland.
The name is from the town of Orange on the Rhone in France, which became part of the Nassau principality in 1530. Its Roman name was Arausio, which is said in 19c. sources to be from aura "a breeze" and a reference to the north winds which rush down the valley, but perhaps this is folk etymology of a Celtic word. The name subsequently was corrupted to Auranche, then Orange. The town has no obvious association with the fruit other than being on the road from Marseilles to Paris, along which masses of oranges were transported to northern France and beyond. In this roundabout way the political/religious movement of Northern Irish Protestantism acquired an association with the color orange, the Irish national flag acquired its orange band, and Syracuse University in New York state acquired its "Otto the Orange" mascot.