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

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

Denis Ryan—th' ould rapparee, he wint afther us harrd—in that last case.

From The Luck of the Mounted A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police by Kendall, Ralph S.

‘Yes, you rapparee; but didn’t you promise—or didn’t I promise for you, which is all one and the same thing—that you’d pay it all back with your prize-money—and where is it? answer that, Terence O’Brien.’

From Peter Simple by Marryat, Frederick

"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