awl
(ɔːl)
Forms: 1 æl, eal, 1–4 al, 3 el, 3–5 alle, 3–7 aule, 4 ele, 6 awle, 6–7 all, 8 aul, 8– awl; also 5 nal, 6 nalle, 6–7 nall, 7 naul, nawl(e.
[OE. æl, cognate with OHG. ala, MHG. ale, mod.G. ahle, ON. alr (cf. Skr. árá). The length of the vowel in the old Germanic languages is uncertain; and there is some doubt as to its being originally a Teutonic word. In 15–17th c. a mistaken division of an awl as a nawl gave the form with initial n.]
1. A small tool, having a slender, cylindrical, tapering, sharp-pointed blade, with which holes may be pierced; a piercer, pricker, bodkin.
| c 885 Laws of ælfred 11 (Bosw.) Þurhþyrliᵹe his eáre mid eale. c 1000 ælfric Lev. xxv. 10 Þirliᵹe his eáre mid ale. 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxi. 6 He shal thril his eer with an alle [1388 a nal, an al; Coverdale, botkin; Genev. awle; 1611 aule]. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 127/2 It is harde to the to stryue ayenst the alle or prycke. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 144 The worm..must be pulled out by some naul or needle. 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. vi. 145 To bore little holes with a fine awl. 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times xv. (1869) 537 Awls and sinews would in our hands be but poor substitutes for needles and thread. |
2. esp. The tool of this description used by shoemakers for piercing holes in leather. Cf. also bradawl (used by carpenters).
| c 1000 Colloq. Monast. 30 (Bosw.) Hwanon sceó-wyrhtan æl? c 1230 Ancr. R. 324 A sutare [þet haueð forloren] his el. 1340 Ayenb. 66 More boryinde þanne zouteres eles. 1564 Becon Early Wks. Gen. Pref. (1843) 5 The shoemaker [giveth over] his nalle and thread. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 331 Their horns be like a shoomakers Nall blade. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 25 Truly sir, all that I liue by, is with the Aule. 1853 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 639 Seated on his stool, with his awl in his hand, ready to begin work. |
b. fig. and proverb. applied to the occupation of a shoemaker. Cf. last.
| 1632 B. Jonson in Brome's North. Lasse Introd. 9 The Cobler kept him to his nall. 1826 Scott Woodst. viii. 205 Doubt not that thou shalt be set beyond thine awl. |
c. to pack up one's awls: cf. all B 7 b. (It is possible that the phrase originated with this word, or in a pun on all and awl.)
| 1674 Cotton Voy. Irel. iii. 10, I then call to pay, And packing my nawls, whipt to horse, and away. |
3. transf. A sharp spine, or boring organ.
| 1340 Ayenb. 66 Þe þornhog þet ys al ywryȝe myd prikyinde eles. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xix. §2 The awl or borer, fixed at the tails of various species of flies. |
† 4. ? A dagger. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls IV. 209 I-slawe with alles [capulis] of comune..brawlers. |
5. Comb. awl-bird, provincial name of the Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis); awl-shaped a., subulate; awl-wort, a plant (Subularia aquatica) so named from its leaves.
| 1802 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1833) 385 Awl Bird. 1762 Ellis in Phil. Trans. LII. 664 The female has a remarkable..awl shaped papilla. 1880 Gray Bot. Text-bk. 398 Awl-shaped, narrow, terete or somewhat so, and attenuate from a broader base to a slender or rigid point. 1797 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Subularia, Awl-wort. |