sleiveen

English

WOTD – 17 March 2010

Alternative forms

sleeveen

Etymology

From Irish slíghbhín, slíbhín, with the same meaning; from sliabh (“mountain”) (hence the implication that the person is rural).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈsliːviːn/

Noun

sleiveen (plural sleiveens)

(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.

Translations

dishonest person; trickster

Finnish: koijari (fi), sluibari
French: escroc (fr), filou (fr), aigrefin (fr), fripon (fr), larron (fr), chevalier d'industrie (fr), tricheur (fr)
Irish: slíghbhín, slíbhín

Italian: truffatore (it), mariolo (it), farabutto (it), imbroglione (it), sbarazzino (it), birichino (it)
Russian: обма́нщик (ru) m (obmánščik), обма́нщица (ru) f (obmánščica)
Spanish: ratero (es), timador (es), petardista, estafador, caballero de industria, pícaro (es), bribón (es), tunante (es), truhán (es), taimado (es)

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