▪ I. skirr, n.
(skɜː(r))
Also scurr, skurr.
[f. the vb.]
A sound of a grating, rasping, or whirring character.
| c 1870 M. Clarke in Mem. Vol. (1884) 127 How many nights in that humble shelter have I listened to the skirr of the wild cats. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. xx. 219 The scurr of whetting [sc. shears] spread into the sky. 1887 ― Woodlanders III. ii. 44 The occasional skirr of a halter in Melbury's stables. |
▪ II. skirr, v.
(skɜː(r))
Forms: α. 6 skyr, 6–7, 9– skir, 7 skirre, 7, 9– skirr; 6, 9 dial. sker. β. 7, 9 scur (9 dial. skur), 9 scurr.
[Of doubtful origin; the form scur could represent OF. escorre, escourre:—L. excurrĕre, but the existing evidence indicates the priority of skir.]
1. intr. To run hastily (away); to flee, make off; = scour v.1 1 c.
| α a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 54 b, Your..bragging adversaries.. wil flee, ronne, & skyr out of the felde. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. vii. 64 We will come to them, And make them sker away. 1602 Life Ld. Cromwell iii. ii, So many battles have I overpass'd And made the French skir when they heard my name. |
| β 1887 Caine Deemster xxxvii, From their confusion in scurring away, I knew that the sheep had indeed been there. |
2. To move, run, fly, sail, etc., rapidly or with great impetus. Sometimes implying a whirring sound accompanying the movement. Usu. const. with advs. or preps.
| α 1567 Turberv. Epit., etc. 7 Let Zeuxis Grapes not make him proude at all, Though Fowles for them did skyr against a wall. a 1656 Ussher Ann. (1658) 315 Seleucus with an hundred ships,..in a scornful manner, skirred along under the noses of them. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 5 From their skirring along, or gliding upon the snow. 1827 J. F. Cooper Prairie II. xii. 198 Suddenly one of the..most ferocious of them all broke out of the ring, and skirred away in the direction of her victims. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 113 The black-maned clouds, like Furies on the wing, Skir past. |
| β a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca i. i, The light shadows, That in a thought scur o'r the fields of Corn. 1842 Borrow Bible in Spain xxii, The animal, who was scurring over the field,..instantly returned. 1866 Reader 17 Feb. 173/1 A picture..of the wind and the rain, as the first scurs at its fiercest speed. |
b. dial. To slide or skate swiftly.
| 1811 Willan in Archaeologia XVII. 158 Sker, to slide swiftly, to skait. 1825– in dial. glossaries (Northumb., Lancs., Devon, Cornwall). |
3. trans. To pass or go rapidly over (a stretch of land or water), esp. in search of something or some one. (Cf. scour v.1 2.) † Also, to ride rapidly through.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 35 Send out moe Horses, skirre the Country round. a 1625 Fletcher Love's Cure ii. ii, Whil'st I with that, and this well mounted, scurr'd A Horse⁓troope through, and through. 1816 Byron Siege Cor. xxii, Mount ye, spur ye, skirr the plain, That the fugitive may flee in vain. 1826 Scott Kelly's Reminisc. Misc. Wks. 1870 XX. 234 An adventurous little schooner of this kind skirring the coast in search of its own peculiar objects. 1877 Blackmore Cripps ii, The broader puddles, though skirred by the breeze, found the network of ice veiling over them. |
| fig. 1821 Byron Cain iii. i. 64, I had..skirr'd extinguish'd worlds; And, gazing on eternity, methought [etc.]. |
4. To throw with a rapid skimming motion. Cf. skeer v.1
| a 1652 Brome Mad Couple i. i, None dare venture so neare you as a Man hurles a Die or Skirrs a Card. 18.. in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., ‘See me skirr this stone.’ A word used only..in connection with this boyish test of skill. 1894 Blackmore Perlycross xxxv. 358 Polwarth..skirred his flat hat into the middle of the sawdust. |
Hence ˈskirring ppl. a.
| 1573 Twyne æneid xii. Mm ij b, As the swallow..With tendre houeringe winges her skirringe flight swift forward takes. 1827 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 277 North. Have you had any snow yet James, in the forest? Shepherd. Only some skirrin sleets. |