▪ I. ˈpurling, vbl. n.1
[f. purl v.1 + -ing1.]
† 1. In sense 1 of the vb. attrib. as purling wire.
| 1545 Rates of Customs C ij, Purlynge wyer the dossen pounde iiiis. 1579 J. Jones Preserv. Bodie & Soule i. x. 21 The Persian, Spanish, or Italian working of silks, as spinning, twisting, weuing sowing, imbroydring, aresing, counterfeyting, drawing, rasing, purling, buttoning, &c. a 1623 Fletcher Love's Cure i. ii, If he live..to your years, shall he spend his time in pinning, painting, purling, and perfuming as you do? |
2. Knitting: see sense 4 of the vb.
| 1880 Plain knitting, etc. 11 Purling or knitting back⁓wards should be the next step, as this is necessary for the completion of muffatees and stocking heels. 1902 M. Barnes-Grundy Thames Camp 299 The knitting and purling may be made very easy. |
▪ II. ˈpurling, vbl. n.2
[f. purl v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of purl v.2: chiefly referring to the sound.
| 1598 Florio, Sorgimento, a rising..a mounting, a purling, a billowing. 1626 Bacon Sylva §230 A pipe a little moistned on the inside,..maketh a more solemn sound, than if the pipe were dry: but yet with a sweet degree of sibilation or purling. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 17 The purlings of Streams. 1863 Mrs. Oliphant Chron. Carl. I. Salem Ch. vi, He..heard vaguely the polite purling of Masters's voice. 1891 ― Jerusalem ii. ii. 258 The purling of the little river under the olive-trees. |
▪ III. ˈpurling, vbl. n.3
[f. purl v.4 + -ing1.]
The fact of being capsized or thrown headlong.
| 1869 E. Farmer Scrap Bk. (ed. 6) 91 And with ‘purling’ and ‘pumping’ the field gets select. |
▪ IV. ˈpurling, ppl. a.
[f. purl v.2 + -ing2.]
That purls, as a rivulet or stream; rippling, undulating; murmuring.
| a 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella xv. 1 Euery purling spring Which from the ribs of old Parnassus flowes. 1598 Drayton Heroic. Ep. xxii. 97 With ev'ry little perling breath that blowes. 1626 Bacon Sylva §170 All instruments that have either returns, as trumpets; or flexions, as cornets; or are drawn up, and put from, as sackbuts; have a purling sound. 1631 Chapman Cæsar & Pompey ii. i. E 3 Exceeding calme, By reason of a purling winde that flyes Off from the shore each morning. 1655 Vaughan Silex Scint., Ps. lxv, The fruitful flocks fill every dale, And purling corn doth cloath the vale. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 204 The whispering zephyr, and the purling rill. 1867 C. M. Yonge Six Cushions xvi, The pathetic purling flow of talk. 1888 F. Cowper Capt. of Wight (1889) 293 The evening star flickered its glinting light across the purling water. |