Whiteboys

[hwahyt-boiz, wahyt-]

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. a secret agrarian peasant organization, active in Ireland during the early 1760s, whose members wore white shirts for recognition on their night raids to destroy crops, barns, and other property in redressing grievances against landlords and protesting the paying of tithes.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Whiteboys¹

white + boy + -s ³

Example Sentences

His mother had joked that he might live to see the day that he could tell a white man what to do, and “now I’ve got two. My whiteboys!”

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He scrapped with the whiteboys on Yoakum.

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White′boy, a member of an association of Irish peasants first formed in County Tipperary about 1761—wearing white shirts—long noted for agrarian outrages; White′boyism, the principles of the Whiteboys; White′-brass, an alloy of copper and zinc.—adj.

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Of Michael and the Whiteboys nothing was to be seen.

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This horrid feat they accomplished, secure from interruption, in the briary depths of the ravine, and while the main body of the pack were industriously tow-rowing up and down the stream after their lawful fox, a couple of goats were only saved from "The Whiteboys" by miracles of agility and courage on the part of the countrymen.

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