rapparee
Americannoun
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an armed Irish freebooter or plunderer, especially of the 17th century.
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any freebooter or robber.
noun
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an Irish irregular soldier of the late 17th century
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obsolete any plunderer or robber
Etymology
Origin of rapparee
First recorded in 1680–90, rapparee is from the Irish word rapaire
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.
No thimblerigging rapparee, No jobber in kidnappery No filcher I !
From Time Magazine Archive
This rapparee promised him mountains of wealth, and an English company was found to advance large sums of money—I fear on Sir Arthur's guarantee.
From The Antiquary — Volume 01 by Scott, Walter, Sir
Day in we hunt the spinney fox, Day out the rapparee; His cave is in the broken rocks Above the Correi-buidhe.
From The Mountainy Singer by MacCathmhaoil, Seosamh
‘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
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.
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.
