vourneen

Updated: May 1, 2025

I thought I had enough of the elements then, but I've seen a deal more of them since. `Terence, says my father to me one day, `what do you mane to do? `To get my dinner, sure, replied I, for I was not a little hungry. `And so you shall to-day, my vourneen, replied my father, `but in future you must do something to get your own dinner; there's not praties enow for the whole of ye.

Frederick Marryat - Peter Simple

'Terence, says my father to me one day, 'what do you mane to do? 'To get my dinner, sure, replied I, for I was not a little hungry. 'And so you shall to-day, my vourneen, replied my father, 'but in future you must do something to get your own dinner: there's not praties enow for the whole of ye.

Frederick Marryat - Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2

Then, in a clear mezzo-soprano voice, she sang the first verse of one of the most popular Irish ballads: "O Arrah ma dheelish, the distant dudheen Lies soft in the moonlight, ma bouchal vourneen: The springing gossoons on the heather are still, And the caubeens and colleens are heard on the hill."

Bret Harte - The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales : With Condensed Novels, Spanish and American Legends, and Earlier Papers

Well, my dear, it was a beautiful sight to see the king standing with his mouth open, looking at his poor old goose flying as light as a lark, and better than ever she was: and when she lit at his feet, patted her on the head, and "Ma vourneen," says he, "but you are the darlint o' the world." "And what do you say to me," says 'Saint Kavin, "for making her the like?"

- Celtic Fairy Tales

'You don't say so, Shorsha ma vourneen? you don't say that you have cards fifty-two? 'I do, though; and they are quite new never been once used. 'And you'll be lending them to me, I warrant? 'Don't think it! But I'll sell them to you, joy, if you like. 'Hanam mon Dioul! am I not after telling you that I have no money at all!

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro; the Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest

‘You don’t say so, Shorsha ma vourneen?—you don’t say that you have cards fifty-two?’ ‘I do, though; and they are quite new—never been once used.’ ‘And you’ll be lending them to me, I warrant?’ ‘Don’t think it!—But I’ll sell them to you, joy, if you like.’ ‘Hanam mon Dioul! am I not after telling you that I have no money at all!’

George Henry Borrow - Lavengro: The Scholar, The Gypsy, The Priest

Then, in a clear mezzo-soprano voice, she sang the first verse of one of the most popular Irish ballads: "O Arrah, ma dheelish, the distant dudheen Lies soft in the moonlight, ma bouchal vourneen: The springing gossoons on the heather are still, And the caubeens and colleens are heard on the hills."

Bret Harte - Condensed Novels

So Fingal ran into his house, and called to his wife Shaya, 'My vourneen, says he, 'be quick now; there's that big bully of a Scotchman coming up the hill.

Frederick Marryat - Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2