▪ I. pirl, v. arch., Sc., and dial.
(pɜːl, Sc. ˈpɪrl)
Also 6 pirle, pyrl, 6–9 purl.
[Origin not ascertained; perh. onomatopœic: cf. purl v.]
1. trans. To twist, wind, or spin (threads, fibres, or hairs) into a cord; in early use esp. to twist or spin (gold or silver wire) into cord or ‘lace’; now esp. dial. to twist (horsehair) into fishing-lines, etc.
| 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 796 Sum pirlyng of golde theyr work to encrease With fingers smale, and handis whyte as mylk. 1530 Palsgr. 658/1, I pyrle wyer of golde or syluer, I wynde it upon a whele as sylke women do. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xci. 39 But copwebs vpon copwebs: pirld in ech coste: All parts of windows to be so enboste: That no flie can passe. 1825 Jamieson, Pirl..2. To twist, twine, curl; as to twist horse-hair into a fishing-line; Roxb., Clydes. 1828 Moir Mansie Wauch xxvi, A bit daigh, half an ounse weight, pirled round wi' the knuckles into a case. 1892 Daily News 10 Nov. 2/2 The car of the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers Company,..men and women in the costume of James I. were engaged in wire-drawing, flatting, and spinning thread, purling bullion, weaving lace, embroidering, and lace-making. 1894 Northumb. Gloss., Purl, to twist between finger and thumb. Horsehair is purled thus in making snares for bird-catching in winter. |
2. To cause to revolve, to spin; to throw or toss with spinning motion. Also intr. To move with such motion, to revolve rapidly, to spin.
| 1791 J. Learmont Poems 273 (E.D.D.) Cranreuch snow blaws pirlin' on the plain. 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 25 (Jam.) Cauld December's pirlin drift Maks Winter fierce an' snell come. 1808 Jamieson, Pirl, v.n. to whirl. 1880 Ibid. (new ed.) s.v., Pirl up the pennies. [1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Pirdle, to cause to spin. ‘Let me pirdle the top, I'll show thee how to make'n go.’] |
3. intr. To curl; ‘to ripple as the surface of a body of water under a slight wind’. (Jamieson 1808.)
| 1789 [see pirling vbl. n.]. 1819 J. Rennie St. Patrick II. x. 191 I'll set my teeth in the withered chafts o' you till the blind pirl out o' your luckin' e'en. 1920 Chambers's Jrnl. Christmas No. 837/2 Before the first puffs of blue smoke circled and pirled above the village roofs. |
Hence pirled ppl. a., twisted, twined, spun into a thread or lace; ˈpirling ppl. a. and vbl. n.; (see sense 3).
| c 1500 H. Medwall Nature (Brandl) 763 Then yt cryspeth and shyneth as bryght as any pyrled gold. 1520 in Archæologia LIII. 17 A corporax case and the corporax of gold pyrlled and crymyssynn velvet. 1583 Rates of Customs D vij, Pirled lace called cantelet lace of thred the groce iis. vid. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 71 Some with purled lace so cloyd. 1789 D. Davidson Thoughts on Seasons 33 Ye roll, in cudlin purlings to the sea. 1936 C. Macdonald Echoes of Glen i. 3 On an emerald bank by the side of a pirling burn. |
▪ II. pirl, n. Sc.
[f. prec. vb.]
a. A twist, curl. b. A fine curl or ripple on the surface of water.
| 1825 Jamieson s.v., ‘There's a pirl on the water.’ 1838 Hogg Tales (1866) 150 (E.D.D.) Wi' the pirl bein' awa', the pool was as clear as crystal. 1880 Jamieson, Pirl..2. Twist, twine, curl; as ‘That line has na the richt pirl,’ Clydes. |
▪ III. pirl
obs. or dial. form of purl n. and v.