rapparee

American  

[rap-uh-ree] / ˌræp əˈri /

noun

1. an armed Irish freebooter or plunderer, especially of the 17th century.

2. any freebooter or robber.

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rapparee British  

/ ˌræpəˈriː /

noun

1. an Irish irregular soldier of the late 17th century

2. obsolete any plunderer or robber

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Etymology

Origin of rapparee

First recorded in 1680–90, rapparee is from the Irish word rapaire

Example Sentences

No thimblerigging rapparee, No jobber in kidnappery No filcher I !

From Time Magazine Archive

Why, what an ungrateful young rapparee it is, wanting to leave the home of five years like that!”

From First in the Field A Story of New South Wales by Rahey, L.

"A thundering bloody rapparee" was the name by which Carroll delighted to call him.

From The Landleaguers by Trollope, Anthony

"They were called Rapparees," Mr. Malone says, "from being armed with a half-pike, called by the Irish a rapparee."

From Rookwood by Ainsworth, William Harrison

Not that, while devouring all the "rapparee" experiences of the father, he had no eye for the daughters, and did not see what was passing around him.

From The Daltons, Volume I (of II) Or,Three Roads In Life by Lever, Charles James