leprechaun

plural leprechauns · alternative lepracaun · alternative leprocaun · alternative lurikeen

1. IrelandartsA type of diminutive, solitary fairy or sprite, traditionally depicted as a small, bearded man wearing a green coat and hat, often found repairing a single shoe; they typically possess hidden treasure, such as a pot of gold hidden at the end of a rainbow, and can be forced to reveal its location if captured.

   Do you not catch the tiny clamour, / Busy click of an elfin hammer, / Voice of the leprechaun singing shrill, / As he merrily plies his trade?

   1888, William Allingham, “The Lepracaun; or Fairy Shoemaker”, in William Butler Yeats, editor, Irish Fairy and Folk Tales, pages 86–87

   1 more example

   So they wint, an' Tom held the Leprechaun fast in his hand, an' nivir tuk his eyes frum aff uv him, though they had to crass hidges an' ditches, an' a cruked bit uv a bog (fur the Leprechaun seemed, out o' pure mischief, to pick out the hardest and most conthrairy way), till at last they come to a grate field all full o' bolyawn buies, an' the Leprechaun pointed to a big bolyawn, an' sez he, "Dig undher that bolyawn, an' you'll git a crock chuck full o' goulden guineas."

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 375

2. ethnicoffensiveslangslurAn Irish person.