Brewer's: Whiteboys

A secret agrarian association organised in Ireland about the year 1759. So called because they wore white shirts in their nightly expeditions. In 1787 a new association appeared, the members of which called themselves “Right-boys.” The Whiteboys were originally called “Levellers,” from their throwing down fences and levelling enclosures. (See Levellers.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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