shillelagh

See also: Shillelagh

English

WOTD – 17 March 2017

An assortment of shillelaghs

Etymology

From Irish sail éille (“shillelagh”, literally “cudgel of a thong”), altered to match the name of the village of Shillelagh (from Irish Síol Éalaigh (literally “descendants of Éalach”), because the forest near it provided wood from which such clubs could be made.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ʃəˈleɪli/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪli
• Hyphenation: shil‧le‧lagh

Noun

shillelagh (plural shillelaghs)

1. (Ireland) A wooden (traditionally blackthorn (sloe) wood) club ending with a large knob.
   • 1842, Charlotte Elizabeth, “Letter IX. The Dumb Boy.”, in Personal Recollections. [...] From the London Edition, New York, N.Y.: John S. Taylor & Co. No. 145 Nassau-Street, Brick Church Chapel, →OCLC, pages 151–152:

     [T]he stem of a stout young oak or ash tree, into the end of which, where the roots had been rounded off, a quantity of molten lead was poured, making the shillelagh more formidable in such hands than a sword would have been – much harder to parry, and impossible to break.

   • [1864], T. Maclagan, “The Twig of the Shannon”, in Maclagan's Musical Age Songster, Containing All the Most Popular Songs Sung by T. Maclagan, London: The Music-Publishing Company, 19 Peter's Hill, St. Paul's, E.C., →OCLC, page 27:

     It beats all your guns and your rifles, / For it goes off whene'er you desire, / And it's sure to hit just what it aims at, / For shillelaghs they never miss fire.

   • 1958, Terence Hanbury White, The Once and Future King, London: William Collins, Sons, →OCLC:

     "My sorrow!" cried Toirdealbhach. "What do I want to be a saint for at all, is my puzzle! If I could fetch one crack at somebody with me ould shillelagh"—here he produced a frightful-looking weapon from under his gown—"wouldn't it be better than all the saints in Ireland?"

   • 2007, John W. Hurley, “Irish Martial Arts”, in Shillelagh: The Irish Fighting Stick, Pipersville, Pa.: Caravat Press, →ISBN, page 15:

     The precise size and shape of a shillelagh can be hard to agree upon, but most of those who have an interest in Irish culture will readily acknowledge that a knobbed stick, made of oak or blackthorn, are the distinguishing characteristics of a shillelagh.

2. Any cudgel, whether or not of Irish origin.

Alternative forms

• shillala, shillalah, shillelah
• shillalagh
• shillaly, shillely

Translations

wooden club ending with a large knob

• Irish: sail éille f

See also

• blackthorn

References

• “Shillelah”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

• shillelagh (weapon) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia