▪ I. burl, n.1
(bɜːl)
[a. OF. bourle tuft of wool; cf. Sp. borla tuft, tassel, and burr.]
1. A small knot or lump in wool or cloth.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 56 Burle of clothe, tumentum. 1870 Slater Colours 39 These spots or ‘burls’ arise from portions of cotton intermixed with the wool. 1879 in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 342/1 The burler..carefully removes any knots or burls. |
† 2. transf. A small lump or rising in the skin; a pimple or pustule. Obs. (Cf. bur n. 5.)
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 220 The powder of the Hedge-hogs skin, being mingled with oil by anointment, taketh away the burles in the face. 1651 Culpepper Astrol. Judgem. Dis. (1658) 82 The Sun causeth Pimples and Burles in the Face. |
† 3. The rudiment or bud of a red deer's horn; see quot. Obs. (Cf. bur n. 6.)
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Bosse, Our wood-men call [the bump], if it bee a red deeres, the burle or seale, and, if a fallow deeres, the button. |
4. a. A knot in wood (U.S.).
| 1886 E. S. Morse Japan. Homes iii. 133 If it is gnarled or tortuous in grain, or if it presents knots or burls, it is all the more desirable. 1887 Advance (Chicago) 10 Mar. 145/1 From each ragged wound grew a burl. |
b. An overgrown knot or excrescence in walnut and other woods, used in veneering; also, a log or piece of timber containing such a knot; also, a veneer made with this wood. Cf. bur, burr, n. 5 b.
| 1885 Spons' Mech. Own Bk. 356 French walnut burls. Ibid., The ash burls..avoid the necessity of a stay log by having a sufficient part of the trunk on which the burl grew left to serve for this purpose. |
▪ II. burl, n.2
(bɜːl)
[App. var. north. dial. birl a whirring sound, a rapid twist or turn, etc. (see E.D.D. and Sc. Nat. Dict.); cf. birl v. to revolve, rotate.]
1. ? Roundness, fullness. poet.
| 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland (1918) st. 16 The burl of the fountains of air. 1883 ― Serm. & Writings (1959) 154 Therefore in that ‘cleave’ of being which each of his creatures shews to God's eyes alone (or in its ‘burl’ of being{vb}uncloven) God can choose countless points in the strain (or countless cleaves of the ‘burl’) where the creature has consented, does consent, to God's will in the way above shewn. |
2. Also birl. An attempt, a try, a test; esp. in phr. to give it a burl, to make an attempt. Austral. and N.Z. colloq.
| 1917 N.Z.E.F. Chrons. 16 May 137/2 So up they [pennies] went and spinning well And betters cried, ‘Fair {oqq}burl{cqq}!’ 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Nov. 20/4 He [a whale] decided to give the launch a birl. He butted it frequently with his nose. 1939 K. Tennant Foveaux iv. i. 348 How about giving it a burl? 1947 D. M. Davin For Rest of Lives xlv. 227, I thought I'd give it a burl. And I made it, got clean away. 1955 D. Niland Shiralee 108, I'm going to give Eucla a birl. Want to get there as soon as I can. 1969 Private Eye 23 May 14 Might as well give this mead another burl. |
▪ III. burl, v.1
(bɜːl)
[f. the n. There was a med.L. burillāre: see buriller.]
1. trans. To dress (cloth), esp. by removing knots and lumps; ‘to dress cloth as fullers do’ (J).
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 48 To Burle clothe, extuberare. 1552 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, vi. §27 If..Cloth..happen to be evil burled or wasted in the Mill. 1611 Markham Countr. Content. ii. v. (1668) 128 That the Cloth-worker or Sheer-man burle and dress it sufficiently. 1706 Phillips, Burl, to dress Cloath as Fullers do. 1730–6 Bailey, Burl, to pick out the Straws or Threads of Cloth which have not taken the Dye, as Cloth-drawers do. 1882 Beck Draper's Dict., Burl, to pick the burls from the surface of woollen cloths. |
2. To pick out, remove (a lock or flock of wool).
| 1650 Charleton Paradoxes 26 The..Priest burles a small lock of wooll, from the..upper garment of the Saint. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Burl, to cut away the dirty wool from the hind parts of a sheep. |
† 3. To remove ‘burls’ from the face. nonce-use (see burl n.1 2). Obs.
| 1648 Herrick Hesper. (1869) 226 Of pushes Spalt has such a knottie race, He needs a tucker for to burle his face. |
▪ IV. † burl, v.2 Obs.
[Stratmann and Mätzner compare LG. burreln ‘sprudeln’; cf. also burble, purl.]
intr. To bubble, as a spring or fountain out of which water flows gently.
| c 1440 Bone Flor. 1639 Betres lay burlyng in hur blode. c 1450 Erle of Tolous 99 Many a bolde baron..Lay burland yn hys own blode. |
▪ V. burl, burler
dial. forms of birl, birler.