English

Alternative forms

• sleeveen

Noun

sleiveen ‎(plural sleiveens)

1. (Ireland, Newfoundland) A dishonest person; a trickster, usually from a rural area.
   • 1889, WB Yeats, ‘The Ballad of Father O'Hart’:

     In trust he took John's lands; / Sleiveens were all his race

   • 2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage 2003, p. 298:

     You blackened, filthy sleeveen liar. I curse the living day I ever let you near me.

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