▪ I. skirl, n. Sc. and north. dial.
(skɜːl)
Also 6 skyrl, 8 skirle.
[f. the vb.]
1. A shrill cry, a shriek; shrill talk.
| 1513 Douglas æneid ii. xi. 1 With skirlis and with skrekis thus sche beris. 1549 Compl. Scotl. vi. 40 The botis man..cryit vitht ane skyrl, quod he, i see ane grit schip. 1718 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. iii. xix, Mony an unco skirl and shout. 1791 A. Wilson Laurel Disp. Wks. 1876 II. 18 Her skirle Sets my twa lugs a ringing like a gir'le. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxv, That silly fliskmahoy..has..done naething but laugh and greet, the skirl at the tail o' the guffa, for twa days successfully. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Ruth xxiv, The skirl of the grey sea-birds. |
2. A shrill sound, esp. that characteristic of the bagpipe.
| 1860 Russell Diary India I. xv. 238, I hear the skirl of the bagpipes which announces that we are not far from the Highlanders. 1892 J. Barlow Irish Idylls iv. 78 A skirl of vocal music rose up suddenly close by. |
b. skirl-in-the-pan, something prepared for eating by frying in a pan.
| 1816 Scott Old Mort. v, I trow ye dinna get sic a skirl-in-the-pan as that at Niel Blane's. 1825 in Jamieson Suppl. |
▪ II. skirl, v.1 Sc. and north. dial.
(skɜːl)
Also 5 scrille, skrille, 6, 8 skirle, 6 skyrl, 8 skerl.
[prob. of Scand. origin: the early form skrille corresponds to a Norw. dial. skrylla, with variants skrella and skrolla in the same sense.]
1. intr. To scream, shriek, cry out shrilly.
| c 1400 Anturs Arth. 536 Thenne his lemmon on lofte scrilles [v.r. skirles] and scrykes. Ibid. 619 Ho scrilles [v.r. skrilles] and scrikes. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 39 Baith Iohne the Ross and thow, sall squeill and skirle. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. (1811) 593 Whan he was borne towarde his moders chare, he skyrlyd and cryed so feruently. 1645 Sir T. Hope in Misc. Sc. Hist. Soc. I. 131 Quhen I preis to tak any of the barnes in my armes, he skirlis for impatiencie. 1785 Burns Halloween vi, He grippet Nelly hard an' fast; Loud skirl'd a' the lasses. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xi, Stay where ye are, and skirl as loud as ye can. 1889 Barrie Window in Thrums xi. 100 The women-folk fair skirled wi' fear. |
b. Of the bagpipe (or its music): To produce the shrill sounds by which it is characterized; to sound shrilly.
| a 1665 R. Sempill Piper of Kilbarchan 44 He gart his pipe, when he did play, Baith skirl and skreed. 1791 Burns Tam o' Shanter 123 He screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl, Till roof and rafters a' did dirl. 1873 Black Pr. of Thule iv, The wild and ominous air that was skirling upon the hill-side. |
c. Of other inanimate things.
| 1827 Scott Chron. Canongate iv, On the painted board that is skirling and groaning at the door. 1891 Barrie Little Minister iii, Blasts from the north..skirled through the manse. 1894 Crockett Raiders 388 It was comfortable too at meal-times to hear the bacon skirling in the pan. |
2. To play the bagpipe.
| 1828 Moir Mansie Wauch ii, Three fiddlers..and a piper..all skirling, scraping and bumming away throughither. 1879 C. Keene Let. in Life x. (1892) 296 [He] had a sort of piper skirling away in his garden. |
3. trans. To sing, utter, play, etc., in loud and shrill tones.
| 1786 Burns Ordination iii, O' double verse come gie us four, An' skirl up the Bangor. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xvii, If he suld hear her skirling her auld ends o' sangs. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. i. (1855) 23 His piper ‘skirling a gathering’. |
b. To cause (the bagpipe) to sound shrilly.
| 1885 G. Fraser Poems 219 Pate Clauchan o' this toon, Wha skirled his pipes. |
▪ III. skirl, v.2
(skɜːl)
[Of obscure origin; also current in northern dial. as scurl.]
intr. To fly with a sweeping or whirling motion.
| 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxxi, A pretty white curlew skirled over the housetop to settle on the sheepwash dam. 1869 Daily News 18 Aug., Butterflies white, butterflies blue, are on all sides trooping and skirling in the shine. |