subs. (colloquial).—Blandishment; soft speech; SAWDER (q.v.): gross flattery; gammon (q.v.): [From Castle Blarney in Ireland, in the wall of which, difficult of access, is placed a stone. Whoever is able to kiss this is said thereafter to be able to persuade to anything. According to Brewer, Cormack Macarthy held the Castle of Blarney in 1602, and concluded an armistice with Carew, the Lord President, on condition of surrendering the fort to the English garrison. Day after day his lordship looked for the fulfilment of the terms, but received nothing except protocol and soft speeches, till he became the laughing-stock of Elizabeth’s ministers, and the dupe of the lord of Blarney.] Fr. baliverne and pelotage. As verb = (1) to wheedle; to coax; to flatter; to flatter grossly; (2) to pick locks (American).
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. He has licked the BLARNEY STONE; he deals in the wonderful, or tips us the traveller.
1839. LEVER, Harry Lorrequer, xix. They were as cunning as foxes, and could tell BLARNEY from good sense.
c. 1876. Broadside Ballad, ‘A nice young thing.’
| Her name was Kate Carney, she came from Killarney, | |
| So full of her BLARNEY, but fond of her Barney. |
1884. RUSKIN, Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Nov., II, col. 2. It was bombastic English BLARNEY—not Irish.
