Whiteboys
[hwahyt-boiz, wahyt-]
- 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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Origin of Whiteboys
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for whiteboys
Historical Examples
It would be best for us follow after the rest of the army of the Whiteboys.
The Unicorn from the Stars and Other PlaysWilliam B. Yeats
And does he blacken his face as well as the other Whiteboys?
The Tithe-ProctorWilliam Carleton
But why, Alick, are you surrounded by such a number of Whiteboys.
The Tithe-ProctorWilliam Carleton
Some were afraid he'd give up the names of the other Whiteboys; but he did not.
Poets and DreamersLady Augusta Gregory and Others
He meant by that that he didn't give up the names of the other Whiteboys.
Poets and DreamersLady Augusta Gregory and Others