English

Proper noun

Irish

1. The Goidelic language indigenous to Ireland, also known as Irish Gaelic.

   Irish is the first official and national language of Ireland.‎

2. A surname​.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Irish ‎(countable and uncountable, plural Irishes)

1. (as plural) The Irish people.
2. (uncountable, obsolete) A board game of the tables family.
3. (uncountable, US) Temper; anger, passion.
   • 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, Nebraska, published 1987, page 65:

     But her Irish was up too high to do any thing with her, and so I quit trying.

   • 1947, Hy Heath, John Lange, Clancy Lowered the Boom:

     Whenever he got his Irish up, Clancy lowered the boom.

   • 1997, Andrew M. Greeley, Irish Lace, page 296:

     The Priest is as fierce a fighter as I am when he gets his Irish up.

4. (countable, uncountable) whiskey, or whisky, elaborated in Ireland.
   • 1889, Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men In A Boat:

     Harris said he'd had enough oratory for one night, and proposed that we should go out and have a smile, saying that he had found a place, round by the square, where you could really get a drop of Irish worth drinking.

Usage notes

• Use Irishman or Irishwoman for one singular person.

Translations

Adjective

Irish ‎(comparative more Irish, superlative most Irish)

1. Pertaining to or originating from Ireland or the Irish people.

   Sheep are typical in the Irish landscape.‎

2. Pertaining to the Irish language.
3. (derogatory) nonsensical, daft or complex.
   • 1995, Irving Lewis Allen, The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech:

     The slur continued with Irish confetti, a popular term for paving stones or Belgian bricks that were laid in New York streets beginning about 1832.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Erse
• Gaelic
• Wiktionary's coverage of Irish terms
• Appendix:Irish Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Irish

Anagrams

• rishi
• sirih