Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • interjection Ireland An expression of surprise.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Irish mhuise, originally a euphemism for A Mhuire! ("O Mary!") in calling upon the Virgin Mary.

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Examples

  • Langewiesche (it looks like a mouthful, but it's pronounced Langa-wisha) has been to the country 10 times since the commencement of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," and his astringent assessment of the situation there is not encouraging.

    The Fall of Summer Carter, Graydon 2006

  • ‘Wisha! wisha,’ says I. ‘A pound of chops,’ says he, ‘coming into the Mansion House.’

    Dubliners 2003

  • He put the button back into his pocket, and the two fell silent, enjoying the soft motion of the little boat and the wisha-wisha noise that the water made against her.

    The Adventurous Four Again Blyton, Enid, 1898?-1968 1973

  • Ah, wisha, I'm about sick and tired of hearin 'all the things you're going to do.

    Duty, and other Irish Comedies Seumas O'Brien

  • 'Oyeh, wisha nothin', 'says he;' maybe 't is only fancy o 'me.'

    Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 6 Charles Herbert Sylvester

  • 'Wisha! wisha,' says I. 'A pound of chops, 'says he,' coming into the Mansion House. '

    Dubliners James Joyce 1911

  • Oh, wisha, wisha! that the sun may never rise upon this village; and that the stars may never shine on it and that ----.

    Poets and Dreamers Studies and translations from the Irish Lady Gregory 1892

  • Arrah, wisha, wisha, wisha! isn't this the fine village? isn't this the exceeding village?

    Poets and Dreamers Studies and translations from the Irish Lady Gregory 1892

  • "Oh, well now, miss, what will I do at all? wisha, but that's the way wid me ever and always; when the little sup is in -- and indeed it wasn't much I tuck -- the truth always come out -- if it was the killin 'of a man, my heart always gets the betther of ma then."

    The Tithe-Proctor The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two William Carleton 1831

  • "It's going to be the year of wisha, shoulda, coulda," says Heffington, who has farmed in the biggest cotton patch in the top-exporting country on the planet for 23 seasons.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

Comments

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  • "'Wisha, if that's all that's worrying you, wouldn't you sit here with me?' asked Moll. 'I'm here so long I'm forgetting what a real man looks like.'"

    - Frank O'Connor, 'In The Train'.

    October 10, 2008

  • I don't remember saying that.

    October 10, 2008