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

Example Sentences

Some were afraid he'd give up the names of the other Whiteboys; but he did not.

From Poets and Dreamers Studies and translations from the Irish by Gregory, Lady

Having now passed through a considerable extent of country, in which the Whiteboys were common, and committed many outrages, I shall here review the intelligence I received concerning them throughout the county of Kilkenny. 

From A Tour in Ireland 1776-1779 by Morley, Henry

You remember when the Whiteboys were so troublesome, in our dear father's time, what life the officers stationed here then, threw into the country round.

From Rossmoyne by Unknown

From Armagh we marched to Naas, the country to the south having become much disturbed by the Whiteboys, as they termed themselves.

From Twenty-Five Years in the Rifle Brigade by Surtees, William

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 Childers, Erskine