Dictionary

colleen en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish cailín.

Meanings

1. (Ireland) A girl.
2. (Ireland) A young single woman.
   • Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen \ And she smiled as she passed me by. c. 1900, “Star of the County Down (traditional folk song)”:
   • So here was Timothy McShanus deserting the baked meats, to say nothing of his convenient corner in the buffet, to go out and stare at a red shepherdess with picture books and maizypop to sell. And what kind of a colleen was it that he saw? […] Young as she was—and I supposed her to be about eighteen—her figure would have given her five years more according to our northern ideas; […] 1906 June–November, Max Pemberton, “The Diamond Ship. […]”, in Cassell’s Magazine, Illustrated, London; Paris; New York, N.Y.; Melbourne, Vic.: Cassell and Company, Limited, →OCLC, page 101, columns 1–2:

Forms

Coordinates

bouchaleen