▪ I. wimble, n. Now dial. or techn.
(ˈwɪmb(ə)l)
Forms: 3–7 wymble, 4–5 wymbul, -il (5 -el, -ulle), 5–6 -yl(l, -lle, wymel(l (5 -ulle, 6 wyemblye), 5–7 womell (5 -yll), womble, (5 wommil, 6 -ill, womyl, -lle, wombill, wembel, whymble), 8 wimple, 8–9 whimble, 4– wimble (9 Sc. and north. wum(m)il, wummle, wimmel, etc.).
[a. AF. *wimble (var. of *guimble, represented by rare 13th c. gymble, and the dim. gimlet), ad. MLG. wiemel, (also Flem.) wemel (whence OSw. wimla, Da. vimmel), MDu. wimpel.]
1. a. A gimlet.
| 1295 Acc. Exch. K.R. 5/8 m. 4 (P.R.O.) Et iiij. d. ob. in Wymbles emptis. [1296 Ibid. 5/20 m. 5 In tribus Gymblis ferri emptis..vj. d.] c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 170 Terere [gloss wymble (nauger)]. 1411 Nottingham Rec. II. 86, j. parvum wymble, j d. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 85 Vnto the pith a ffrensh wymbul inbore. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 528/2 Wymbyl, or persowre, terebellum. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 154 So eaten with woormes, as though they had byn bored through with wimbles. 1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. 107 b, The haftes and handles of Wymbles and Augurs. 1636 Featly Clavis Myst. xxix. 377 As the wimble bores a hole for the auger. 1662 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. iii. xxvi. §1. 222 The little Wimble once entred, the Workman can then drive a great Nail. c 1781 G. White Selborne, To Barrington (1789) 275 The second [field-mouse] nibbles a hole with his teeth, so regular as if drilled with a wimble. |
b. transf. and fig.
| a 1633 G. Herbert Jacula Prudentum 955 Gifts enter every where without a wimble. 1719 D'Urfey Pills IV. 81 Joan 's a Piece for a Man to bore, With his Wimble. 1781 J. Barbut Gen. Insect. 287 The Gad-fly... From the hinder part of their body, issues a whimble of wonderful structure. 1805 P. Wakefield Dom. Recreat. iv. 62 The whimble is of an admirable structure, and consists of three pieces:..It is the most easily seen in the long whimbled fly. |
2. An auger; also, a brace.
| ? 1362 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 565 Willo Couper ad reparacionem duorum Wymbles, quia fracta in opere Prioris, xij d. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxix. L ij, Men..with grete wymellis and awgours shal perce the ship undreneth. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 165 Perce y⊇ tree thorugh wyth a percer crosse wyse or wyth a wymble. 1573 Tusser Husb. xvii. (1878) 36 Cart ladder and wimble, with percer and pod. 1583 Jewel Serm. Paul's Crosse D j b, That part of the Carpenters wimble, which turneth about, goeth rounde, and by litle and litle draweth in the iron, or steele bit. 1621 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 248 P'd for layinge 3 wimbles, vj{supd}. 1625 Markham Farew. Husb. ii. vi. (1638) 32 A great Augure or wimble of Iron made to receive many bits one longer than another. 1677 Moxon Mech. Exerc. iii. 53 The other end of the Shank must be fitted into the square Socket of the Wimble. 1789 Trans. Soc. Arts I. 38 Hinges, Wimble, and Jack for Ship-Builders. 1824 Carr Craven Gloss., Wummle, an auger, a wimble. |
3. An instrument for boring in soft ground, or for extracting rubbish from a bore-hole in mining.
| 1692 Ray Disc. (1693) 41 They bore this Earth or Soil with a long Wimble. 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 12 [He] puts or screws on the Wimble, or Scoop which takes up the cut stuff. 1789 Brand Hist. Newc. II. 678 The chisel is screwed off [the boring rod], and the wimple or scoop put on. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Wimble, a shell-auger used for boring in soft ground. |
4. Also wimbel, dial. wimbrel. An implement for twisting together strands (esp. of straw) to make rope for tying up hay-trusses, fleeces, etc.
| 1863 J. R. Wise New Forest 288/1 Wimble, an instrument with which to take up faggots or trusses of hay. 1874 Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. xxii. 243 Gathering up the fleeces and twisting ropes of wool with a wimble for tying them round. 1886 ― Mayor Casterbr. I. i. 2 A rush basket, from which protruded at one end the crutch of a hay-knife, a wimble for hay-bonds being also visible. 1939 D. Hartley Made in England ii. 76 There are other types [of implement], such as the wimbrel, rather like the spindle of a spinning wheel in principle. 1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 97 Wimbels are essentially cranked devices for twisting ropes out of straw, formerly required for binding corn stooks... Other country names for them include wimbrels, straw twisters, [etc.]. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as wimble-bit, wimble-bore, wimble-hole, wimble-like adj., wimble-stock; † wimble-cock, a wimble-bit.
| 1583 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 9 For towe broste *wyemblye bittes and a nale percell bitte, ij{supd}. 1628 Toke (Kent) Estate Acc. (MS.) lf. 118 For 5 wimble bitts. |
| [13.. Childh. Jesus 411 in Archiv neu. Spr. LXXIV. 332 With his fyngere he plukede hym owte Att a full littille *wymbilles bore.] 1808 Jamieson, Wimblebore, a hole in the throat, which prevents one from speaking distinctly, S. in allusion to a hole bored by a wimble. |
| 1607 B. Barnes Divils Charter iii. v. F 3, If I lye, call me thy *Wimble-cock. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 215/1 Foramen rotundum,..a *wimble hole. 1613 Markham Eng. Husbandman i. iv. 14 Take a board..which shalbe bored full of large wimble holes. 1683 J. Reid Scots Gard'ner (1907) 88 Bore them [sc. wooden cases] full of auger or wimble-holes. |
| 1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. viii. (1871) 288 Margaret pressed herself into the porch; *wimble-like, she pierced the stacks of men and women that filled the hall. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xvi. xliii. I. 493 [Wood] excellent good for awgre-handles and *wimble-stocks. 1648–9 in Swayne Churchw. Acc. Sarum (1896) 219 A wymble stock and Nayles 1s. 4d. |
▪ II. wimble, a. dial. (and obs. arch.)
(ˈwɪmb(ə)l)
Also 6 wymble.
[app. a northern word taken up by Spenser; recorded in mod. dial. use from Yorkshire and Lancashire. The immediate source is unknown. (Scand. words of appropriate form, e.g. Norw. vimmel giddy, confused, have not the required sense.)]
Active, nimble.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 91 He was so wimble, and so wight [gloss Quicke and deliuer]. 1579 Hake Newes out of Powles (1872) B j, I spyde a pretie wymble lad. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 40 Buckle thy spirits up, put all thy wits In wimble action. 1614 J. Davies (Heref.) Sheph. Pipe, Ecl. G 5, Then nought can be atchieu'd with witty shewes, Sith griefe of Elde accloyen wimble wit. 1748–58 M. Mendez Sqr. Dames i. i. xxvii, Man throws the wimble bait, and greedy woman bites. |
Hence † ˈwimbly adv., nimbly.
| 1594 W. Percy Coelia (1877) 9 Upon my foot, her tender foot alighted, With that she pluckt it off full wimbely. |
▪ III. ˈwimble, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
[f. wimble n.]
1. a. trans. To pierce with or as with a wimble; to make (a hole) with a wimble.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 528/2 Wymbelyn, or wymmelyn, terebro. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. ix. 279 To use force first before people are fairly taught the truth, is to knock a nail into a board, without wimbling a hole for it. 1663 Sir T. Herbert Mem. Chas. I (1702) 142 A Foot-Soldier..wimbled a hole into the Coffin that was largest. 1713 C'tess of Winchilsea Misc. Poems 127 A Nutshell, wimbl'd by a Worm. 1791 Cowper Odyss. xxiii. 232, I wimbled, next, The frame throughout. |
b. transf. (Cf. wimble n. 1 b, quot. 1719.)
| 1656 R. Fletcher tr. Martial vii. lxxiv, Wouldst thou be wimbled gratis when thou art A wrinkled wretch deformed in every part? c 1670 Roxb. Ball. (1891) VII. 486 And well he could dissemble, when wenches he would wimble. |
2. intr. To bore into; chiefly fig. (intr. and refl.), to penetrate or insinuate oneself into.
| 1601 W. Leigh Christians Watch (1605) 17 How this spirit hath entred and wimbled into your soules..I know not. a 1641 Spelman Dial. Coin Reliq. S. (1698) 210 In this latter age we have wimbl'd even into the bowels of Plutus's Treasury. 1671 Cosin in Northumbrian Docts. (Surtees) 240 Hee would fain wimble himselfe into some employment under mee. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. iii. ii. 189 Charley..felt something like a man's finger wimbling in under his neck. 1839 New Monthly Mag. LVI. 61 Wimbling deeper and deeper still, till he has shattered the remains of your nerves to atoms. |
3. trans. To make (a rope) using a wimble (sense 4).
| 1874 Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. x. 131 ‘What have you been doing?’ ‘Tending thrashing-machine, and wimbling haybonds.’ |
Hence ˈwimbler, one who makes ropes with a wimble; ˈwimbling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1623 Cockeram, Terebration, a wimbling. 1637 Whiting Albino & Bellama 59 We men..in our silent beds of earth will court The slender-wasted wormes, and with them sport,..and vow their wimbling busse Is full as sweet as womens was to us. 1648 Herrick Hesp., Kisses Loathsome, Those lips please me which are plac't Close, but not too strictly lac't: Yeilding I wo'd have them; yet Not a wimbling Tongue admit. 1964 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 21 Dec., The policeman asked Godfrey Booth: ‘Your occupation, sir?’ Mr. Booth..replied ‘Cag handed straw wimbler.’ Mr. Booth lives in Bobbington, Staffordshire. Ibid., Mr. Booth said: ‘When I left school I took up farming, and wimbling took second place.’ |
▪ IV. † wimble, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. wim v. Cf. wind v.3, windle v.2]
To winnow.
| 1556 Withals Dict. (1562) 20/2 A trey or shawlde to wynowe or wymble corne with. |