Whiteboys

American  

[hwahyt-boiz, wahyt-] / ˈʰwaɪtˌbɔɪz, ˈwaɪt- /

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.

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Etymology

Origin of Whiteboys

white + boy + -s ³

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Whiteboys

He then gave her a brief account of the rencounter he had with the Whiteboys, and alluded to the unknown but friendly individual who had put him on his guard.

From The Tithe-Proctor The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two by William Carleton

Under the names of Rapparees, Whiteboys, Defenders, Ribbonmen, etc., the Confederation of Kilkenny was carried on through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries until the nineteenth.

From The Glories of Ireland by P. J. Lennox

He raised a Yeomanry Corps at the time of the Whiteboys to guard the country against these lawless bands, and against the dreaded French invasion.

From The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent by Sir Home Gordon, Bart.

Under an accumulation of hardships famine was periodic, and from 1760, when the first Whiteboys appeared, disorder in one degree or another was chronic.

From The Framework of Home Rule by Erskine Childers

Of Michael and the Whiteboys nothing was to be seen.

From Further Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Martin Ross

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