Dear Joy

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From the supposed propensity of 17th-century Irishmen to exclaim ‘dear joy’.

Noun[edit]

Dear Joy (plural Dear Joys)

  1. (obsolete, derogatory) An Irishman.
    • 1690, anonymous author, Teagueland Jeſts, or Bogg-Witticisms, part 2, page 135:
      A Dear Joy in the late King James his Army, being newly Liſted, and Armed with a Match-lock, having never before ſeen any of that Faſhion, was much put to a ſtand, at the rare Phyſiognomy of this ſurprizing Whim-wham:
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