▪ I. scowl, n.1
(skaʊl)
Also 6 scowle, 7 scoul.
[f. scowl v.]
A louring or malevolent look.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 123 The air was dirkit with the fowlis, That come..With skryking, skrymming and with scowlis, To tak him in the tyde. 1625 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 206, I suppose none but a Queene could have cast such a scowl. a 1764 R. Lloyd Genius, Envy & Time 9 Each letter'd, grave, pedantic dunce Wakes..And, being dull, looks wond'rous wise, With solemn phiz, and critic scowl. 1847 Tennyson Princess vii. 114 By axe and eagle sat, With all their foreheads drawn in Roman scowls,..The fierce triumvirs. 1860 Abp. Thomson Laws Th. §27. 39 Natural signs, as a scream to express terror, a scowl for hatred. 1909 Blackw. Mag. Sept. 369/2 He was received with scowls and curses. |
b. transf. Of clouds, the elements, etc.
| 1648 Crashaw Delights of Muses, Death Herrys, A ruddy storme whose scoule Made Heavens radiant face looke foule. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic Prol. 2 Sky—what a scowl of cloud. |
▪ II. † scowl, n.2 U.S. Obs.
? Corrupt f. scow.
| 1778 T. Anburey Trav. America (1789) II. lix. 278 We crossed the river in scowls, which are flat bottom boats, large enough to contain a waggon and horses. 1796 H. Wansey Jrnl. 56 While our coachee, and all its passengers were passing this fine river in a scowl. |
▪ III. † scowl, n.3 dial. Obs.
Forms: 6 skoole, skole, scowle, scoule, 8 scoil.
[Cf. scowles.]
Rubbish, debris.
| 1538–9 in R. N. Worth Cal. Tavistock Par. Rec. (1887) 17 Itm for Carynge awaye of the Skoole there ij{supd}. Ibid. 18 Itm for Carynge oute of the Skole of the churche ij{supd} ob. 1561–2 Ibid. 26 Itm payed for Caryinge of Scowle that laye in the churche yarde ijs viij{supd}. 1574–5 Ibid. 33 Itm paid for caryadge awaie of the scoule, iiij{supd}. 1777 Horæ Subsecivæ 380 (E.D.D.) Scoil, rubbish; the head of a quarry before the solid rock is reached. |
▪ IV. scowl, v.
(skaʊl)
Forms: 4 skoul, 5 schoul, 5–6 scowle, 6 skoule, 6–8 scoul, 6–7 scoule, 7– scowl.
[Prob. of Scandinavian origin; cf. Da. skule of the same meaning.]
1. intr. To look with louring brows and a malignant or threatening expression; to look angry or sullen. Const. at, on, upon.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 2225 Devels sal..raumpe on hym, and skoul, and stare. c 1400 Land Troy Book 16158 Menelaus hadde grete envy Off that quene Pantasaly,..On hir that tyme ful foule he schouled And seyde: that [etc.]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 450/1 Scowle, wythe eyne, oboculo. 1535 Coverdale Job xvi. 9 Myne enemy skouleth vpon me with his eyes. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 21 A mistres that scowles. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 35 But with bent lowring browes, as she would threat, She scould, and frownd with froward countenaunce. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. ii. 28 Euen so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes Did scowle on Richard. 1702 Yalden æsop at Crt. viii. 33 Shall I [sc. Phoebus] the universe benight..Because you [sc. an owl] rail and scoul. 1803 J. Porter Thaddeus i, His brow scowled. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xiii, Albany scowled, but was silent. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Wealth Wks. (Bohn) II. 71 Whether it were not possible to make a spinner that would not rebel, nor mutter, nor scowl, nor strike for wages? 1882 B. D. W. Ramsay Recoll. Mil. Serv. I. vi. 119 We met many disbanded soldiers,..but beyond scowling at us they did us no harm. |
b. To be exhibited or expressed frowningly or with a scowl. poet. or rhetorical.
| 1719 Young Busiris i. i, A sullen gloom Scowls on his brow, and marks him thro' the dusk. 1812 Crabbe Tales xv. 296 Amazement scowl'd upon his clouded face. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 89 A menace scowled upon the brow. |
2. transf. and fig. Of inanimate things (sometimes personified): To assume a gloomy, forbidding, or threatening aspect.
| 1587 Churchyard Worthies of Wales N 4, When..Clowdes waxe cleere, that now doth lowre and skoule. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d' Alf. i. 56 What squint-ey'd Starre hath scowl'd vpon me? 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. i. 312 The Day returns, the Heav'ns no longer scowl. 1783 Cowper Task iii. 541 Not so when winter scowls. Assistant art Then acts in nature's office. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 16 Fretting cares scowl far aloof. 1905 J. B. Firth Highways of Derbyshire 168 The edge..scowls down upon a bleak Staffordshire moorland. |
3. trans. in nonce-uses. To send forth with a scowl; to express with a scowl.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 491 As when..the dusky clouds..o'respread Heavn's chearful face, the lowring Element Scowls ore the darkn'd lantskip Snow, or showre. 1757 Gray Bard ii. iii, Fell Thirst and Famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled Guest. |
Hence ˈscowling vbl. n. Also ˈscowler.
| 1575 Gammer Gurton i. i, There is howlynge and scowlyng, all cast in adumpe, With whewling and pewling. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-T. viii. (1859) 188, I had rather meet three of the scowlers than one of the smilers. |