spalpeen

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A poor migratory farm worker in Ireland, often viewed as a rascal or mischievous and cunning person.
  2. A good-for-nothing person.

Pronunciation

/spalˈpiːn/

Word forms

spalpeen spalpeens

Etymology

A late 18th-century term, from Irish spailpín.

Related words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.