Rapparee
RAPPAREE, properly a short pike (Irish, rapaire) ; the term being hence applied in the war in Ireland from 1688-92 to the Irish irregular soldiers armed with this weapon. It thus became synonymous with robber or freebooter, and in 1707 appears in the title of an act (6 Anne, cap. n) " for the more effectual suppression of ... robbers and rapparees."
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
