Dear Joy

English

Etymology

From the supposed propensity of 17th-century Irishmen to exclaim ‘dear joy’.

Noun

Dear Joy (plural Dear Joys)

1. (obsolete, derogatory) An Irishman.
   • 1690, anonymous author, 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: