shoneen

British  

/ ˈʃoːniːn /

noun

1. an Irishman who imitates English ways

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Etymology

Origin of shoneen

C19: from Irish Gaelic Seoinín, diminutive of Seon John (taken as typical English name)

Example Sentences

Good Father John O'Hart In penal days rode out To a shoneen who had free lands And his own snipe and trout.

From Project Gutenberg

All loved him, only the shoneen, Whom the devils have by the hair, From the wives, and the cats, and the children, 227To the birds in the white of the air.

From Project Gutenberg

Hence Shoneen means "a little gentry John," and is applied to upstarts and "big" farmers, who ape the rank of gentleman.

From Project Gutenberg

We'll pay no more Rackrents, Says the Shan Van Vocht, We'll pay no more Rackrents, Says the Shan Van Vocht; We'll pay no more Rackrents, To upstart shoneen gents, Whose hearts are hard as flints, Says the Shan Van Vocht.

From Project Gutenberg

It was not pleasant listening to, or seeing, "The Piper," to many groups of Irishmen, for it cut alike at the Parliamentary Nationalists, the Sein Feiner, and the shoneen.

From Project Gutenberg