3. (old).—An Irishman.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf. Greek, s.v. Irishmen call themselves Greeks.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 240. We had the Greeks (the lately arrived Irish) down upon us more than once.
1872. Standard, 3 Sept. ‘Melbourne Correspondence.’ The most noticeable point of comparison between the two Administrations is the presence or the absence of the Greek element from the Cabinet. Greek, as some of your readers are aware, is colonial slang for ‘Irish.’
4. (thieves’).—A gambler. Also a highwayman.
Merry Greek, subs. phr. (old).—A roysterer; a drunkard. Cotgrave. [In Latin, Graecare = to play the Greek—high-living and hard drinking.]
1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, iv., 4. A woful Cressid ’mongst the merry Greeks.
Greek Fire, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Bad whiskey; Rotgut (q.v.).
1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321, s.v.
Greek Kalends, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Never. To defer anything to the Greek Kalends is to put it off sine die. (The Greeks used no kalends in their reckoning of time.)