shirrel Sc. (Common in the 16th c.)
(ˈʃɪrəl)
Forms: 6 scherald, -et(t, -att, -ard, cheritt, scheirritt, 8 shirrel, 9 shirrot, shurral.
[In 16th c. scherald, ? f. scher- shear v., to cut. (The final -ld developed divergently into l and t.)]
A turf.
| 1513 Douglas æneis viii. iii. 190 And he hym self the Troiane men fut het On sonkis of gresy scheraldis hes doun set. 1554–5 Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 360 Item, for scheratts and devatts ixs. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 336 The fluir laid witht greine cherittis [v.r. scheirrittis]. 1597 in Spalding Club Misc. (1841) I. 143 Thow..keist a grene truff or scherard, and laid the new calffit calff theirvpon. 1755 R. Forbes Ajax, Jrnl. to Portsmouth 29 Our..coach-man turned o'er our gallant cart amon a heap o' shirrels, an' peat-mow. Ibid. 50 Shirrels, turf. 1808 Jamieson, Shirrot, a turf or divot, Banffs. 1826 D. Anderson Poems (ed. 2) 9 (E.D.D.) Hardly a shurral Even to rest a fire. |