Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A cudgel of oak, blackthorn, or other hardwood.

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

  • noun A wooden club ending with a large knob.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cudgel made of hardwood (usually oak or blackthorn)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Shillelagh, a village of east-central Ireland where cudgels were made with wood from the formerly extensive local oak forests.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the name of the Irish village and barony.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word shillelagh.

Examples

  • For those not versed in Irish history or post WWII cartoons, a shillelagh is a wooden club, typically made from a stout knotty stick, with a large knob on the end.

    dustbury.com » How do you do, too? 2007

  • Oh, and for the publication quest, be sure to pack your shillelagh.

    text adventure « 2009

  • The rest of the day I'll spend wandering the halls of Congress with my shillelagh and shamrocks, doing my best impersonation of St. Patrick as I try to drive the snakes out of Capitol Hill.

    The Green They Steal, the Greed They Wear ...a St. Patrick's Day Lamentation 2010

  • Charlie had gone from crutches to a cane, which he now swung around as he walked, like the same old shillelagh me father brought from Ireland.

    EVENING’S EMPIRE BILL FLANAGAN 2010

  • She caressed his flaccid shillelagh, wondering if Ricki would ever forgive her; wondering, too, if she would have felt half this good after sex with Ricki.

    La insistencia de Jürgen Fauth 2010

  • Charlie had gone from crutches to a cane, which he now swung around as he walked, like the same old shillelagh me father brought from Ireland.

    EVENING’S EMPIRE BILL FLANAGAN 2010

  • The rest of the day I'll spend wandering the halls of Congress with my shillelagh and shamrocks, doing my best impersonation of St. Patrick as I try to drive the snakes out of Capitol Hill.

    Michael Moore: The Green They Steal, the Greed They Wear ...a St. Patrick's Day Lamentation 2010

  • Charlie had gone from crutches to a cane, which he now swung around as he walked, like the same old shillelagh me father brought from Ireland.

    EVENING’S EMPIRE BILL FLANAGAN 2010

  • Because it's full of the kind of leprechaun, shillelagh, Erin Go Bragh factor, which is a bit cringy.

    Bell X1: Rock Dressed In Electro Beats 2009

  • And in the immortal words of John Belushi, "I'd like to smash you in the face with my shillelagh".

    Happy St. Pee's Day EAGEAGEAG 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "In bodycoats, kneebreeches, with Donnybrook fair shillelaghs." Joyce, Ulysses, 15

    January 1, 2008

  • Sarah: Federline isn't in the GBC.

    Wing Chun: Are you kidding me?

    Sarah: First of all, Bobby Brown would beat the crap out of him using Mark Hamill as a shillelagh. Second of all –

    Wing Chun: Why Hamill?

    Sarah: I don't know. I just picture Brown grabbing the first relatively small dude who's sitting still, lashing his arms and legs to his body with colored shoelaces, and going to town.

    Wing Chun: …Colored shoelaces.

    Sarah: …What?

    Wing Chun: I…nothing.

    from this entry at Tomato Nation.

    April 6, 2008

  • 6 links in 1 post? Uffa.

    March 17, 2009