▪ I. borrel, borel, a. arch.
(ˈbɒrəl)
Forms: 4 borel(l, burel(l, 5 borelle, 6 borrell, Sc. burell, burrell, 7–9 borrel, borel.
[Conjectured to be an attrib. use of borel, burel n. ‘coarse clothing’; the adj. and the n. appear in the same forms in 14th c., but in Eng. writers from Caxton onwards the adj. is borrel, borel, while the n. is regularly burrel, burel. Sense 2 seems to be a development of 1, which appears much earlier. See borowe.]
† 1. Belonging to the laity. Obs. (or arch.)
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. x. 286 And þanne shal borel clerkes ben abasched, to blame ȝow or to greue. c 1386 Chaucer Sompn. T. 164 And moore we seen of cristes secree thynges Than burel [so in 4 MSS., Heng. burell, Corpus borell, Harl. borel] folk al though they weren kynges. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 52 Some of hem [priests] ben as borelle folkes be. c 1575 Gascoigne Fruites Warre xxviii, Bycause they covet more than borrell men. 1860 J. W. Warter Sea-Board & D. II. 473 As with the lay and borrel man, so too with Bishop, Priest, or Deacon. |
2. Unlearned, rude; rough. arch. (In quot. 1513 said of spears; cf. boistous, boisterous.)
| 1513 Douglas æneis Prol. 48 Weill ma I schaw my burell busteous thocht. Ibid. vii. xii. 56 Bayr in thair handis lance stavis and burrell speris. 1572 Gascoigne Flowers Wks. (1587) 111 My borrell braine is all too blount To give a gesse. 1625 Gill Sacr. Philos. i. 63 His words seeme borrel and rude. 1727 Cowell's Law Dict. s.v. Bordel, Borel-folkes, drunkards, and epicures, which the Scotch now call burielfolk. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth v, A coarse, ignorant, borrel man like me. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 318 Lo, such are borel folk. |
▪ II. borrel
var. of borel, Sc., an auger.