Word.ws English Dictionary

senior hurling

senior hurling noun: used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see senior, hurling.

Noun

senior hurling (uncountable)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see senior, hurling.
  2. (Ireland, figuratively) serious, difficult, important business; hardball
    • I urge Sinn Féin and the DUP to come together to ensure they can address the problems that have arisen in regard to the Social Welfare Bill. … I remind our Sinn Féin colleagues that they are playing senior hurling now and the issue must be resolved if they are to aspire to being in government in...2015 March 10, Michael Mullins, "Order of Business" Seanad Éireann debates (Oireachtas)
    • Sinn Féin are 'spinning' an election disaster as a victory, while party president Gerry Adams needs to stop claiming he is being victimised by the media and realise "this is senior hurling", according to writer and former politician Eoghan Harris.2016 February 29, '"Sinn Féin are spinning that they had a good election. They had an appalling election" - Eoghan Harris reviews #GE16' (Newstalk)

Origin of senior hurling

In Gaelic games, including hurling, the "senior" grade is the highest level of competition. In 2007, the Green Party entered government for the first time in coalition with Fianna Fáil, and Séamus Brennan of Fianna Fáil quipped to the Green Party ministers, "you're playing senior hurling now".

Questions about senior hurling

What does senior hurling mean?
Senior hurling means used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see senior, hurling.
What part of speech is senior hurling?
Senior hurling is a noun.

Words near senior hurling in the dictionary

  1. senior high school
  2. senior high schools
  3. senior higher
  4. senior highers
  5. senior highs
  6. senior hurling
  7. senior infant
  8. senior infants
  9. senior lecturer
  10. senior lecturers
  11. senior moment

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: senior hurling (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “senior hurling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/senior_hurling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.