spalpeen

[ spal-peen, spal-peen ]

/ spælˈpin, ˈspæl pin /

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noun Irish English.

a lad or boy.

a rascal; scamp.

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Origin of spalpeen

1770–80; <Irish spailpín seasonal hired laborer, rude person, scamp, equivalent to spailp spell, bout, turn + -ín noun suffix

Words nearby spalpeen

spaldeen, Spalding, spall, Spallanzani, spallation, spalpeen, Spam, spambot, spammie, spamming, span

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use spalpeen in a sentence

I see'd him onc't knock the top-lights out of a murtherin' spalpeen who was afther injurin' yer Honor's reputation.
Barney Blake, The Boy Privateer|Herrick Johnstone
Shure, when that dirty little spalpeen av a Caggs went back on us so, what could Oi do?
The Honorable Peter Stirling and What People Thought of Him|Paul Leicester Ford
Wait out there, like a jewel, till I put the beast away, and then you shall call me spalpeen again.
Kilgorman|Talbot Baines Reed
“Go along away out of that, you blundering spalpeen,” said he, with a cuff on the ear.
Kilgorman|Talbot Baines Reed

Ah, go'long wid ye—ye bloody young spalpeen—ye're no more afraid than I am!
The Southerner|Thomas Dixon

British Dictionary definitions for spalpeen

spalpeen

/ (ˈspælpiːn) /

noun Irish

an itinerant seasonal labourer

a rascal or layabout

Word Origin for spalpeen

C18: from Irish Gaelic spailpín itinerant labourer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012