Meanings
interjection
- archaicslangAn expletive, expressing anger or deep emotion.
Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see? / Arrah, Tim, mavourneen, why did you die?
c. 1850s, Anonymous, Finnegan's Wake (folk song)2 more examples
Arrah! Why should ye glower and snarl at each other, like a kennel o' mad puppies, when it's the brave frolic ye may have together?
1913, anonymous author, chapter VI, in Live to be Useful or, The Story of Annie Lee and Her Irish NurseArrah, sit down on the parliamentary side of your arse for Christ' sake and don't be making a public exhibition of yourself.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 327
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
arrah. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arrah
MLA
“arrah.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arrah. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “arrah,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/arrah.
Source: arrah on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.