DCHP-1 Online
Ribbon-man † Hist. 
n. one of the many Irish laborers in Bytown [Ottawa] during the 1830's and 1840's, employed first in the building of the Rideau Canal and later as shantymen, (def. 1).
See also: shantyman (def. 1) Shiner
- 1829 The Irish have frequent rows, and carry the spirit of party with them wherever they go ; the orange and ribbon-men have dreadful recounters.
- 1933 Bytown was then infested with a class of people called Shiners, or, as they were sometimes called, Ribbon men; rough characters that neither feared God nor regarded man. . . .
- 1829 The Irish have frequent rows, and carry the spirit of party with them wherever they go ; the orange and ribbon-men have dreadful recounters.