▪ I. crewel, n.1
(ˈkruːəl)
Forms: 5–6 crule, 6 crewle, crulle, cruele, croole, croylle, (crue, crewe), 6–7 crewell, 6–8 cruel(l, 7– crewel.
[Of obscure origin: app. the earliest forms were monosyllabic, crule, crewle, croole, some of which are still dialectal.
Connexion with crull, s.w. dial. form of curl, or its Du. cognate krul a curl, krullen to curl, has been suggested; but the vowel sounds do not agree.]
1. A thin worsted yarn, (according to Bailey) of two threads, used for tapestry and embroidery; also formerly for making fringes, laces, vestments, hosiery, etc.
These yarns, being produced in different colours and used in combination in the making of one article, are often spoken of in the plural. The name is also applied to the balls or bobbins on which the yarn is wound up for use. The name appears to have become obsolete about 1800, except in dialects, and to have been reintroduced to general use about 1860 in connexion with crewel-work, q.v.
| 1494 in Rogers Agric. & Prices 560/2, 11 oz. Crule. 1496 Ibid. /4, 3 lbs. Crule of different colours. 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. York (1830) 83 Itm for blake crewle to purfulle the rosys vj d. 1553 Inv. Ch. Goods in Ann. Litchfield IV. 38, ij coopes, on of redd silke, thother of cheked crulle. c 1555 Inv. in H. Hall Eliz. Soc. (1887) 150 A lytle stoole covered withe Nedle worcke checkerid w{supt}{suph} white, blewe, & tawnye cruell. 1567 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) 250, ij longe guishings of croole wrowght w{supt}{suph} the nedle, & a carpett clothe that is in workinge with crooles for the same. 1571 Ibid. 364, viij lbs. of sewing crewle. 1625 Fletcher Noble Gent. v. i, An old hat..and on it for a band A skeine of crimson cruell. 1653 Walton Angler 115 A May-flie, you may make his body with greenish coloured crewel. 1755 Johnson, Crewel, yarn twisted and wound on a knot or ball. c 1750 in H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1789) IV. 144 While crewel o'er the canvass drawn Became a river or a lawn. 1787 Mrs. Trimmer Œcon. Charity 79 Binders herring-boned with coloured Cruel. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Crules worsted of all-colours for fancy needle-work. 1858 Simmons Dict. Trade, Crewel, worsted twisted in knots, and sold for tapestry, and embroidery work; now called Berlin wool. 1865 Cornh. Mag. Feb. 216 In rising to receive him, she threw down her basket of crewels. |
(β) The forms crewe, crue occur: perh. as scribal errors.
| 1552–3 Inv. Ch. Goods in Ann. Litchfield IV. 10 In this chapell a vestement of grenne crewe, a vestement of redd crue, a cope of grenne crue. Ibid. 41 Vestements of crewe. |
2. Short for crewel-work.
| Mod. You might do it in crewel. |
3. attrib. † a. Made of crewel. Obs. or dial.
| 1550–1600 [see caddis1 2 b]. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 10 To buy him cruel strings to his bookes. 1599 Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 286 He will have His cruel garters cross about the knee. 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 7. 1633 Shirley Bird in Cage iv. ii, I speak the prologue to our mixed audience of silk and crewel gentlemen in the hangings [i.e. the tapestry figures]. 1867 F. Francis Angling i. (1880) 42 A yellow crewel body with red hackle and dun turkey wing. |
b. Pertaining to or embroidered with crewel-work: crewel yarn = sense 1.
| 1598 Florio Worlde of Wordes 260/3 Passamano d'accia, statute lace, crewell lace. 1880 L. Higgin Handbk. Embroidery iii. 19 ‘Stem stitch’ (wrongly called also, ‘crewel stitch’, as it has no claim to being used exclusively in crewel embroidery). 1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal II. iv. 58 Throwing back his dark head upon a crewel anti-macassar. 1887 Daily News 21 Nov. 2/7 There is a moderate business doing..in knitting and crewel yarns. |
Hence ˈcrewel v. trans. (dial.) to ornament with crewel-work embroidery: see also quot. 1869. ˈcrewelist, one who works crewel-work. ˈcrewellery, crewel-work collectively. (All recent.)
| 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Crewel, to cover a ball or other object with particoloured worsted worked in a peculiar manner. 1876 Mid. Yorksh. Gloss., Creal, to wind twine, or anything of the kind, is to creal it..The process of doing samplers, or other worsted needle-work, is spoken of as crealing. 1881 Standard 16 July 5/2 She was unable to dispose of her crewellery, her fans. 1880 Daily Tel., Wanted a good crewelist. |
▪ II. crewel2, cruel
A local name of the Cowslip in Devon and Somerset.
| 1847–78 in Halliwell. |
▪ III. crewel
obs. form of cruel.