craythur

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English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Irish créatúr (creature). Doublet of creature. For semantic development, compare creature comfort, and subsequent influence in the early modern era by the Bible:

1611, The Holy Bible, [] (King James Version), London: [] Robert Barker, [], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 4:4:
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

Noun[edit]

craythur (uncountable)

  1. Whiskey.
    • 1850 (approx.), Anonymous, Finnegan's Wake:
      Now Tim had a sort o' the tipplin' way
      With a love of the liquor poor Tim was born
      And to help him on with his work each day
      He'd a drop of the craythur ev'ry morn.
  2. (Ireland) Alternative form of creature.
    • 1857, Anna Maria Hall, A woman's story, page 215:
      [...] why, at home, if a craythur hasn't a hat to pull, he'll pull the hair off his head, sooner than not make a bow.
      Shut ye'r mouth, do, and go on, ye little ill-reared winkle; [...]
    • 1901, “Water-Kelpies”, in Country Life, page 471:
      Then he answered thickly, "Och, sure, and it's far enough from well it is, yer honour, and it's far enough from well yer honour would be if he'd seen the soights that Pathrick Moriarty, as harmless a craythur as ever was born, has seen thi noight."