blarney

noun

blar·​ney ˈblär-nē How to pronounce blarney (audio)
1
: skillful flattery : blandishment
2
blarney verb

Examples of blarney in a Sentence

She was charmed by his blarney. a tale with more than a hint of blarney
Recent Examples on the Web Some tales are blarney. Kevin Fisher-Paulson, San Francisco Chronicle, 28 Mar. 2023 To many would-be publishers, the title sounded like a bunch of blarney — even in the early 1990s, many people still considered Ireland a conservative backwater and a cultural appendage to Britain. Clay Risen, New York Times, 30 Oct. 2022 After years of listening to Boris Johnson’s blarney, many Britons have had their fill, at least for now, of hot air cleverly channelled. John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2022 This might come as a surprise given the outsized and blarney-filled headlines on social media to the contrary. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 4 June 2022 Menu: soda bread with Irish whiskey butter and fried cabbage and rashers; pork bangers and Irish colcannon with red onion gravy and blarney stones and Irish bananas. Gege Reed, The Courier-Journal, 9 Mar. 2022 The blarney is still strong here (lapsing into Irish dialect is an occupational hazard of reading him), but these characters also act. Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb. 2022 Around the Cedars campus and among the Ross neighbors, Mulligan was known for his blarney, with a joke and a laugh for everyone. Sam Whiting, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Nov. 2021 The result feels like a film filtered less through real life than the rosy lens of sentiment and memory: a soft-focus Irish fairy tale bathed in love and blarney and a whole lot of warbling Van Morrison. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 4 Sep. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blarney.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Blarney stone, a stone in Blarney Castle, near Cork, Ireland, held to bestow skill in flattery on those who kiss it

First Known Use

1780, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of blarney was in 1780

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Cite this Entry

“Blarney.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blarney. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

blarney

noun
blar·​ney ˈblär-nē How to pronounce blarney (audio)
1
: skillful flattery : blandishment
2
blarney verb
Etymology

from the Blarney stone, a stone in the wall of Blarney Castle, Ireland, said to give skill in flattery to those who kiss it

Geographical Definition

Blarney

geographical name

Blar·​ney ˈblär-nē How to pronounce Blarney (audio)
town in County Cork, southwestern Ireland population 1952

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