Brewer's: Blarney

None of your blarney. Soft, wheedling speeches to gain some end; sugar-words. Cormack Macarthy held the castle of Blarney in 1602, and concluded an armistice with Carew, the Lord President, on condition of surrendering the fort to the English garrison. Day after day his lordship looked for the fulfilment of the terms, but received nothing except protocols and soft speeches, till he became the laughing-stock of Elizabeth's ministers, and the dupe of the Lord of Blarney.

To kiss the Blarney Stone.
Whoever does this shall be able to persuade to anything. The Blarney Stone is triangular, lowered from the north angle of the castle, about twenty feet from the top, and containing this inscription: “Cormac Mac Carthy fortis me fieri fecit, A.D. 1446.” Blarney is near Cork.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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