Whiteboys

[hwahyt-boiz, wahyt-]

noun (used with a singular verb)

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.

Origin of Whiteboys

white + boy + -s³

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for whiteboys

Historical Examples of whiteboys

It would be best for us follow after the rest of the army of the Whiteboys.
The Unicorn from the Stars and Other Plays
William B. Yeats
And does he blacken his face as well as the other Whiteboys?
The Tithe-Proctor
William Carleton
But why, Alick, are you surrounded by such a number of Whiteboys.
The Tithe-Proctor
William Carleton
Some were afraid he'd give up the names of the other Whiteboys; but he did not.
Poets and Dreamers
Lady Augusta Gregory and Others
He meant by that that he didn't give up the names of the other Whiteboys.
Poets and Dreamers
Lady Augusta Gregory and Others