shillelagh - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

An assortment of shillelaghs

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.

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.
    • 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.

wooden club ending with a large knob