variants
also shillalah
as in cane
a heavy rigid stick used as a weapon or for punishment
the bartender in the Irish pub keeps a shillelagh behind the bar just in case there's trouble
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shillelagh
McDonagh had some help from Finn Balor, who hit Sheamus with a shillelagh when the referee was distracted.
—
Fernando Quiles Jr, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Oct. 2025
Kelly professionalized a program that kept tripping over its own shillelagh.
—Pete Sampson, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2025
Sheamus brought Rusev to the first row and then hit the 10 Beats for yet a third time, this time with a shillelagh.
—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025
Maier, who was heading out of town that weekend for a meeting of the National League of Cities, saw the foot-long shillelagh and, according to a Milwaukee Sentinel story by Marta Bender, mistook it for a pipe.
—Chris Foran, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025
The original shillelagh was retired with a new one introduced in 1997.
—Tom Layberger, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Fernando Quiles Jr, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Oct. 2025
Kelly professionalized a program that kept tripping over its own shillelagh.
—Pete Sampson, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2025
Sheamus brought Rusev to the first row and then hit the 10 Beats for yet a third time, this time with a shillelagh.
—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025
Maier, who was heading out of town that weekend for a meeting of the National League of Cities, saw the foot-long shillelagh and, according to a Milwaukee Sentinel story by Marta Bender, mistook it for a pipe.
—Chris Foran, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025
The original shillelagh was retired with a new one introduced in 1997.
—Tom Layberger, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shillelagh
Noun
-
Four were fishing with cane poles from a rickety dock.—
Byron W. Dalrymple,
Outdoor Life,
4 June 2026
-
They can also be seen around mountains, swamps, cane thickets, wooded stream corridors, and rural habitats.—
Jack Armstrong,
Memphis Commercial Appeal,
3 June 2026
Noun
-
One of her first acts on taking up the festival baton in 2025 was to reinstate the International Competition.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
8 June 2026
-
In the audience will be Pink's mother — who took her to shows growing up in Philadelphia, instilling a love of musicals — and Pink's two children, a passing of the musical theater baton.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
7 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shillelagh.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shillelagh. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
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