comely maidens
An outdated stereotype of Irish womenAn outdated stereotype of Irish women; used as a reference to misogynistic opinions.
Meaning
1 senses(Ireland, plural, plural only)An outdated stereotype of Irish women; used as a reference to misogynistic opinions.
He was surprised to see so many women workers. What did he expect, comely maidens?
Origin
Incorrectly attributed to a speech by Irish statesman Éamon de Valera. A longer version isIncorrectly attributed to a speech by Irish statesman Éamon de Valera. A longer version is often misquoted as "comely maidens, dancing at the crossroads". The actual phrase, delivered in a radio broadcast on St. Patrick's Day 1943, mentions "the laughter of happy maidens, whose firesides would be forums for the wisdom of serene old age." See Wikipedia article.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: comely maidenses| Singular | comely maidens |
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| Plural | comely maidenses |
regular
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.