Word.ws English Dictionary

sleiveen

/ˈsliːviːn/

sleiveen noun: a dishonest person; a trickster, usually from a rural area.

Noun

sleiveen (plural sleiveens)

  1. (Ireland, Newfoundland) A dishonest person; a trickster, usually from a rural area.
    • In trust he took John's lands; / Sleiveens were all his race1889, WB Yeats, The Ballad of Father O'Hart
    • You blackened, filthy sleeveen liar. I curse the living day I ever let you near me.2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page 298

Forms of sleiveen

pluralsleiveens
alternative formsleeveen
alternative formsleveen

Origin of sleiveen

From Irish slíghbhín, slíbhín, with the same meaning; from sliabh (“mountain”) (hence the implication that the person is rural).

Questions about sleiveen

What does sleiveen mean?
Sleiveen means a dishonest person; a trickster, usually from a rural area.
What part of speech is sleiveen?
Sleiveen is a noun.
How do you pronounce sleiveen?
Sleiveen is pronounced /ˈsliːviːn/.
What is the plural of sleiveen?
The plural of sleiveen is sleiveens.

Words near sleiveen in the dictionary

  1. sleights
  2. sleights of hand
  3. sleights-of-hand
  4. sleighty
  5. Sleipnir
  6. sleiveen
  7. sleiveens
  8. Slemani
  9. Slemp
  10. Slemps
  11. slendang

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sleiveen (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sleiveen.wav.

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