Dear Joy
English
Etymology
From the supposed propensity of 17th-century Irishmen to exclaim ‘dear joy’.
Noun
Dear Joy (plural Dear Joys)
- (obsolete, derogatory) An Irishman.
- 1690, anonymous, 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:
- 1690, anonymous, Teagueland Jeſts, or Bogg-Witticisms, part 2, page 135: