Word.ws English Dictionary

wigs on the green

wigs on the green noun: a fight; a brawl.

Noun

wigs on the green pl (plural only)

  1. (Ireland, archaic, plural, plural-only) A fight; a brawl.
    • “I am sorry to perceive, sir, as you say; but you have been in some hot work, sir! I'll engage you have seen some wigs on the green?”
      “Wigs on the green!” exclaimed the elegant stranger, with a very cold, aristocratical stare.
      “Beg pardon, sir!” said Mr. Brown, when he became conscious of his...1853 October 22, Captain Michael Rafter, “Done Brown”, in The London Journal, vol.XVIII no.452 p.119
  2. (Ireland, dated, plural, plural-only) Big trouble.
    • She says, If ye don't fix yeer brother's shoes an' I have to get out of this bed there will be wigs on the green.1998 Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes Ch.XII (Simon and Schuster) p.272

Origin of wigs on the green

In reference to the wigs that gentlemen used to wear, which might fall to the ground during a fight.

Questions about wigs on the green

What does wigs on the green mean?
Wigs on the green means a fight; a brawl.
What part of speech is wigs on the green?
Wigs on the green is a noun.

Words near wigs on the green in the dictionary

  1. Wigner-Seitz cells
  2. WIGP
  3. Wigram
  4. Wigrid
  5. wigs
  6. wigs on the green
  7. wigs on to
  8. wigs onto
  9. wigs out
  10. wigsful
  11. Wigston

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wigs on the green (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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