wet the shamrock

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English[edit]

WOTD – 17 March 2024

Etymology[edit]

From wet (“to celebrate by drinking alcohol”) + the + shamrock (“trefoil leaf of any small clover, especially Trifolium repens, or a clover-like plant, commonly used as a symbol of Ireland”), from the custom, also known as drowning the shamrock, of removing a shamrock worn on one’s clothing on Saint Patrick’s Day and placing it at the bottom of a glass which is then filled with an alcoholic beverage and consumed;[1][2] according to some authorities the shamrock is then retrieved from the empty glass and thrown over the left shoulder.[3]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

wet the shamrock (third-person singular simple present wets the shamrock, present participle wetting the shamrock, simple past and past participle wet the shamrock or wetted the shamrock)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, Ireland, informal) To go for an alcoholic drink, especially as part of a victory celebration or on Saint Patrick's Day.
    • [1727, Caleb Threlkeld, “TRIFOLIUM PRATENSE ALBUM, White Flowered Meadow Trefoyl.”, in Synopsis stirpium Hibernicarum alphabetic[a]e dispositarum. Sive commentatio de plantis indigenis præsertim Dublinensibus instituta. Being a Short Treatise of Native Plants, especially Such as Grow Spontaneously in the Vicinity of Dublin; […], Dublin: […] S. Powell, for the author; and are to be sold by T. Sanders, […], →OCLC, signature [K8], verso:
      The Meadovv Trefoyls are called in Iriſh Shamrocks, […] The VVord Seamar Leaune and Seamar-orge, being in ſignification the ſame, […] This Plant is vvorn by the People in their Hats upon the 17. Day of March yearly, (vvhich is called St. Patrick’s Day.) […] Hovvever that be, vvhen they vvet their Seamar-oge, they often commit Exceſs in Liquor, vvhich is not a right keeping of a Day to the Lord; Error generally leading to Debauchery.]
    • 1869 March 13, R. C., “Notes. St. Patrick’s Day: The Shamrock and Shillelah”, in Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, etc., volume III (4th Series), number 63, London: […] George Andrew Spottiswoode, […] [for] William Greig Smith, […], →OCLC, page 235, column 1:
      In the days of our forefathers it was always customary to wet the shamrock, and indeed this good old custom has by no means become obsolete. And to carry it into effect, the saint's [Saint Patrick's] health is drunk in the morning from a brimming bowl called "Paddy's pot," which has a very inspiring influence, and is considered to be an excellent preliminary for the joys of the day; […]
    • 1878 March 16, “The Library. St Patrick’s Day.”, in The Bazaar, the Exchange and Mart, and Journal of the Household, volume XVIII, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 173, column 3:
      He [Caleb Threlkeld] refers to the custom of wetting the shamrock.
    • 1885, James McQuade, “St. Kitt’s”, in The Cruise of the Montauk to Bermuda, the West Indies and Florida, New York, N.Y.: Thomas R. Knox & Co. successors to James Miller […], →OCLC, page 120:
      We remembered friends at home in our potations, wet the shamrock, and sang the "Wearing of the Green."
    • 1888 May, “News and Notes. The Month.”, in The Australian Journal: A Family Newspaper of Literature, Science, and the Arts, volume XXIII, number 276, Melbourne, Vic.: A. H. Massina & Co., […], →OCLC, page 519, column 1:
      St. Patrick's Day passed off very quietly indeed, partly owing to the uncertainty of the weather. A number of the militia men wetted the shamrock so much that they forgot the legitimate use of their weapons, and employed them in knocking people on the head. A few threw their rifles away.
    • 2002, Mike Cronin, Daryl Adair, “Famine and Exodus”, in The Wearing of the Green: A History of St Patrick’s Day, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2006, →ISBN, page 40:
      Given long-standing drinking customs among the Irish at home and abroad, temperance was a difficult prospect. Traditions such as drinking to the health of Ireland and the patron saint, as well as the renowned ‘wetting the shamrock’ held considerable sway on St Patrick's Day.
    • 2010, Claire Hopper, “Wetting the Shamrock”, in A Fine Irish Season, [Morrisville, N.C.]: [Lulu.com], →ISBN, page 65:
      [T]he crowd drifted away towards the hotel in search of something to wet the shamrock and warm themselves up. Unlike America, there was no green beer and no one I knew would dream of adding anything to their pint unless it was to tip in a shot of whiskey.

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Mike Cronin, Daryl Adair (2002) “The Evolution of St Patrick’s Day”, in The Wearing of the Green: A History of St Patrick’s Day, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2006, →ISBN, page 22.
  2. ^ Scott C. Martin, editor (2015), “St. Patrick’s Day”, in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol: Social, Cultural, and Historical Perspectives, volume 3, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publishing, →ISBN.
  3. ^ Omurethi [pseudonym] (1908) “Customs Peculiar to Certain Days, Formerly Observed in County Kildare”, in Journal of the County Kildare Archæological Society and Surrounding Districts, volumes V (1906–1908), Dublin: Edward Ponsonby [for the County Kildare Archaeological Society], […], →OCLC, page 443.

Further reading[edit]

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