Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A freebooting soldier of 17th-century Ireland.
- noun A bandit or robber.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An armed Irish plunderer; in general, a vagabond.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A wild Irish plunderer, esp. one of the 17th century; -- so called from his carrying a half-pike, called a
rapary .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
bandit ,brigand
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He would appear to be under the impression we are a band of rapparee fifers.
At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O’Neill 2002
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He would appear to be under the impression we are a band of rapparee fifers.
At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O’Neill 2002
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"Yes! wance -- an '' Father, 'th' ould rapparee! he went for me baldheaded for not reporthin 'ut tu."
The Luck of the Mounted A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Ralph S. Kendall
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How him an 'his blood-cousin, Tim Moriarty, lay wan night for an' ould rapparee av a landlord, who'd evicted pore Tim out av house an 'home.
The Luck of the Mounted A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Ralph S. Kendall
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Denis Ryan -- th 'ould rapparee, he wint afther us harrd -- in that last case.
The Luck of the Mounted A Tale of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police Ralph S. Kendall
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The jingles on the King of France, against the Scots in the time of James I., against the Tory, or Irish rapparee, and about the Gunpowder Plot, are of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
The Nursery Rhyme Book Andrew Lang 1901
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I nipped over the border like a shot, and about ten miles the other side, in a nullah, my rapparee-in-charge showed me about seventy men variously armed, but standing up like a Queen's company.
Stalky & Co. Rudyard Kipling 1900
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Muller refute my opinion by urging that 'a Tory meant originally an Irish rapparee, 'or whatever the word _did_ originally mean?
Modern Mythology Andrew Lang 1878
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Pat would not: his ears tossed over his head, and he jumped to right and left, and looked the raggedest rapparee that ever his ancestry trotted after.
Evan Harrington — Volume 4 George Meredith 1868
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Pat would not: his ears tossed over his head, and he jumped to right and left, and looked the raggedest rapparee that ever his ancestry trotted after.
Evan Harrington — Complete George Meredith 1868
chained_bear commented on the word rapparee
An Irish pikeman or irregular soldier, of the kind prominent during the war of 1688-92; hence, an Irish bandit, robber, or freebooter.
Sure, call them names, but they're famed in song and story... See?
Of one such man I'd like to speak
A rapparee by name and deed
His family dispossessed and slaughtered
They put a price upon his head
His name is known in song and story
His deeds are legends still
And murdered for blood money
Was young Ned of the hill
--"Young Ned of the Hill," the Pogues, c. 1989 Terry Woods & Ron Kavana
February 7, 2007