Definitions
Etymologies
- Borrowed from Irish cailín. (Wiktionary)
- Irish Gaelic cailín, diminutive of caile, girl, from Old Irish. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The colleen is a high school junior picked for her scholastic and community activities.”
“Presently, out of the crowd of frightened people sprang a "colleen" of about twelve years, as thinly and scantily clad as is consistent with that decency and modesty for which Irishwomen of the poorer classes are so justly celebrated.”
Disturbed Ireland Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81.
“I was: from any doubts as to which I was speedily relieved by the entrance of the priest's bare-footed "colleen," to deposit on my table a bottle of soda water, and announce breakfast, with his reverence's compliments.”
“I had to wake up another pcv, colleen, and get her into my email account to write my father an email explaining my dilemma.”
“Tagged: art and design · charity · colleen doran · ebay”
“They can be reached at colleen.debaise@wsj.com , sarah.needleman@wsj.com and emily.maltby@wsj.com .”
“Write to Colleen DeBaise at colleen.debaise@wsj.com”
The Wall Street Journal: Rising to the Occasion With a Bakery Chain
“Google the International Reading Association. colleen k”
Teaching reading? « Teaching Literacy « Literacy Help « Literacy News
“He waits for her to step outside and see his smile, sense his love for her, his colleen.”
“In the second episode, friendship still proves to be a troublesome and elusive commodity, especially when a pretty colleen enters the picture.”
The Huffington Post: Jane Minogue: Rent a Friend: A Tweet From Kilkenny, Ireland
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘colleen’.
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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ulyssean
... as in "by James Joyce"
stately, plump, aloft, gurgling, untonsured, chrysostomos, jowl, parapet, jesuit, indigestion, scutter, noserag and 688 more...
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Words and phrases of Irish origin, or...
not necessarily eponyms, but might be
boycott, blarney, banshee, galore, keen, donnybrook, colleen, drumlin, phoney, clan, cairn, ceili and 122 more...
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Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
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Lolita
Words compiled while reading Lolita
lolita, solecism, cognomen, etiolate, tendresse, expiatory, filch, paroxysm, arabesques, sibilant, manque, uranist and 181 more...
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flannagan's Words
netop, kenspeckle, loden, framboise, providence, milquetoast, schism, cadence, thrush, asphodel, clandestine, aesthete and 196 more...
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Irish origin
words that stem from Gaeilge - the Irish language - or have connections with Irish people and places.
phony, eejit, galore, smashing, smithereens, spree, boolean, boycott, gombeen, colleen, slogan, hooligan
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Asativum's Words
tatterdemalion, truthiness, eldritch, gemütlich, aa, pahoehoe, uffish, beamish, but, zymurgy, tarnation, malapropism and 59 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for colleen.
irishcoleen Regional American pronunciation is sometimes long O (midwest mostly) but correctly pronounced C"ah"leen. Jun 9, 2009
seanahan That quote is also the origination of the cracker Cheese-It. Feb 19, 2007
sionnach from the Irish word "cailin", meaning a girl. Feb 19, 2007
brtom "The colleen bawn, my colleen bawn. O, cheese it!"
Joyce, Ulysses, 14 Jan 27, 2007