variants
also shillalah
as in cane
a heavy rigid stick used as a weapon or for punishment
the bartender in the Irish pub keeps a shillelagh behind the bar just in case there's trouble
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shillelagh
McDonagh had some help from Finn Balor, who hit Sheamus with a shillelagh when the referee was distracted.
—
Fernando Quiles Jr, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Oct. 2025
Kelly professionalized a program that kept tripping over its own shillelagh.
—Pete Sampson, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2025
Sheamus brought Rusev to the first row and then hit the 10 Beats for yet a third time, this time with a shillelagh.
—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025
Maier, who was heading out of town that weekend for a meeting of the National League of Cities, saw the foot-long shillelagh and, according to a Milwaukee Sentinel story by Marta Bender, mistook it for a pipe.
—Chris Foran, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025
The original shillelagh was retired with a new one introduced in 1997.
—Tom Layberger, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Fernando Quiles Jr, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Oct. 2025
Kelly professionalized a program that kept tripping over its own shillelagh.
—Pete Sampson, New York Times, 28 Oct. 2025
Sheamus brought Rusev to the first row and then hit the 10 Beats for yet a third time, this time with a shillelagh.
—Blake Oestriecher, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025
Maier, who was heading out of town that weekend for a meeting of the National League of Cities, saw the foot-long shillelagh and, according to a Milwaukee Sentinel story by Marta Bender, mistook it for a pipe.
—Chris Foran, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025
The original shillelagh was retired with a new one introduced in 1997.
—Tom Layberger, Forbes, 27 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shillelagh
Noun
-
Brown suffered cuts and a black eye in addition to leg injures that resulted in permanent scarring and requires him to walk with a cane, his lawyers say.—
Sheetal Banchariya,
New York Daily News,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Dancer Jessica Rabanzo-Flores, dressed in a brown suit jacket and representing McCullers, approached the stage with a cane before joining company dancers who performed the gravity-defying balancing acts that reflect Malashock’s choreographic style.—
Marcia Luttrell,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Berkshire Hathaway hosts its 2026 annual meeting — its first since Warren Buffett passed the baton as CEO to Greg Abel at the start of the year.—
Yun Li,Alex Harring,Sarah Min,
CNBC,
2 May 2026
-
There used to be physical-comedy genius; there used to be simple, aspirational concepts; there used to be a passing of batons between past stars onto the next generation of them.—
Chris Feil,
Vulture,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shillelagh.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shillelagh. Accessed 6 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
