booly

B3O1O1L1Y4
/ˈbuːli/

noun

A company of Irish herdsmen, or a single herdsman, wandering from place to place with flocks and herds, and living on their milk.

“The term booley was not confined to the mountainous districts; for in some parts of Ireland it was applied to any place where cattle were fed or milked, or which was set apart for dairy purposes.”

Similar
booley houseshieling
OriginIrish buaile ← Old Irish bó ← Latin bovile →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nounbooly (plural boolies)

plural boolies · alternative boley · alternative bolye · alternative booley · alternative bouillie

  1. IrelandobsoleteA company of Irish herdsmen, or a single herdsman, wandering from place to place with flocks and herds, and living on their milk.
  2. IrelandobsoleteAn enclosed shelter in the pasture land, usually in the mountainous parts, for the shelter of cattle or their herders.

    The term booley was not confined to the mountainous districts; for in some parts of Ireland it was applied to any place where cattle were fed or milked, or which was set apart for dairy purposes.

    1 more example

    they are evermore succoured and finde releife only in these boolies, being upon the waste places

    1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC

    Synonyms: booley house, shieling

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn enclosed shelter in the pasture land, usually in the mountainous parts, for the shelter of cattle or their herders.

Similar
booley houseshieling
Also see
booley house

Origin

  1. Latinbos“cow, bull, ox”
  2. Latinbovile“cattle stall”
  3. Old Irishbó“cow”
  4. Irishbuaile“cattle enclosure, summer pasturage for cows”
  5. Englishbooly

From Irish buaile (“cattle enclosure, summer pasturage for cows”), from Old Irish bó (“cow”) or būale, probably from Latin bovile (“cattle stall”) or bubile, from Latin bos (“cow, bull, ox”) (bov-).

More words from Irish, Old Irish, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

looby
Cite this entry
APA

booly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/booly

MLA

“booly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/booly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “booly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/booly.

Source: booly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.