Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Irish Black magic; sorcery.
- n. Irish An evil spell; an incantation.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Witchcraft; incantation; charm.
Wiktionary
- n. magic, witchcraft; a spell, especially one designed to cause or cure illnesses to man or beast, or to increase or decrease the quantities of farm products such as butter or milk.
Etymologies
- Anglo-Irish, from Irish piseog ("witchcraft"), from Middle Irish piseóc, pisóc. (Wiktionary)
- Irish Gaelic píseog, from Middle Irish pisóc, piseóc. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I reached for it and rubbed it—even though I knew the talk of fairies was a lot of pishogue.”
““All that rigmarole Henrietta McCrumb told you about the horse is nothing but pishogue,” I said.”
““Even though it’s pishogue, it won’t hurt to be cautious,” I agreed.”
““Dad would say it was all pishogue, so don’t tell him, Mom.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pishogue’.
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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Mollusque's miscellany
A mixture of words that I like or have commented on, along with ones parked here so they'd be listed somewhere or remind me of lists I want to make.
oranger, monographer, preoccupied, bu, bobization, coinventor, tetrapyloctomy, borgmannian, suspercollate, manhug, mancrush, obituarist and 604 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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Random
These are just some random words that I might find a list for someday.
troglodytism, chinkle, vasculum, sabz, cucullus, tricornigerous, cuboctahedron, eruca, gamp, pilum, taha, angelhood and 252 more...
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Like True Newfoundlanders
A place for me to store my Newfoundland English, as I learn it. (Might take a while.)
screech-in, screech, moose milk, bucklish, buckly, buckaloon, buccaloon, newfoundland sock, rum runner, scravel, newfoundland, oonchook and 112 more...
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Ulysses
This is a list of the more difficult English words found in James Joyce's Ulysses. It will continually be updated as I read along. The list is in reverse chronological order, meaning that the last ...
equine, untonsured, corpuscle, prelate, parapet, dactyl, jejune, lancet, jalap, barbican, valise, dewsilky and 377 more...
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rduke's Words
misguggle, ken, sere, etiolated, gelid, digladiate, popinjay, bathykolpian, conglaciation, hyperborean, callipygian, vagile and 1253 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pishogue.
madmouth var. pishoge Jul 16, 2009
chained_bear "pishogue, usually plural, also pisherogue, fizoge, etc. Ir. Joyce 302; piseog 'witchcraft, sorcery, superstitious acts.' Incredible story, foolish talk; complaint.
1968 Dillon 138 Fishogues, pisharogues—superstitions about ghosts, fairies, etc.; matters a person complains about. 'Them are only some of your old fishogues.'"
—Dictionary of Newfoundland English Jan 27, 2009
sionnach I know this word as a superstition, though Wiktionary defines it as witchcraft or a magic spell. Dec 10, 2007