THAT’S THE WAY I SAW IT

The other day I used the expression “Donnybrook” when talking to a friend about baseball (“donnybrook” being a noisy dispute or fight).

I was thinking, “How did this expression come about?”

I looked in the Dickson Baseball Dictionary which came out in 1989 and did not find “Donnybrook.”
I later found out about this term in the book, Why You  Say It by Webb Garrison.

Their was a town Donnybrook in Ireland that around 1855 abolished their fair because of man brawls. After that “donnybrook” in general use was anything from a loud argument to a riot.

Paul Dickson is coming out with a newer book so maybe he will have “donnybrook” listed.