▪ I. whemmel, n. Sc. and dial.
(ˈhwɛm(ə)l)
Forms: see next.
[f. next.]
An overturn, upset, overthrow; a state of confusion.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxii, Nae doubt, nay doubt—ay, ay—it's an awfu' whummle—and for ane that held his head sae high too. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie civ, The chaise made a clean whamle, and the Laird was lowermost. 1830 ― Lawrie T. iii. v, Many a joint-dislocking jolt, and almost headlong whamle. 1887 Jamieson's Sc. Dict. Suppl., Quhemle..a rock, toss; a rocking, tossing. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags xlviii, His horse also fell from rock to rock, and among a great whammel of stones, reached the bottom of the defile. |
▪ II. whemmel, v. Sc. and dial.
(ˈhwɛm(ə)l)
Forms: 6, 9 quhemle, quhomle, 7–9 whemmel, 8–9 whomel, whemble, 9 w(h)emmle, whammle, wham(b)le, whommle, whum(m)el, etc. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.).
[Metathetic form of whelm v.]
1. trans. To turn upside down; to overturn, capsize; to drink off (liquor) to the bottom; also transf. and fig. to upset, throw into confusion.
| 1536 Bellenden Cron. Proheme ii. (1541) F iv, And schyll Triton with his wyndy horne Ouir quhemlit all the flowand occean. 1684 [Meriton] Yorksh. Dial. 47, I whemmeld Dubler owr'th Meat, To keep it seaf and warm for you to Eat. 1715 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. ii. xix, On whomelt tubs lay twa lang dails. 1721 ― Prospect of Plenty 196 Healthfou hearts shall own their honest flame, With reaming quaff, and whomelt to her name. 1816 Scott Antiq. xl, I think I see the coble whombled keel up. Ibid. xli, He took the curbstane, and he's whomled her as I wad whomle a toom bicker. c 1850 Denham Tracts (1895) II. 31 Put into a wheelbarrow and whemmeled over upon the muck-midden. 1883 Trans. Amer. Philol. Soc. 55 Whommle, ‘to turn a trough, or any vessel, bottom upwards, so that it will drain well’; used in West Virginia. |
b. To cover (something) by turning a vessel, etc. upside down over it.
| 1790 Grose Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2), Whemble, to cover with a bowl. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. s.v. Whommled, To be whommled beneath a bushel. 1855 [J. D. Burn] Autobiog. Beggar Boy (1859) 57, I was, like the turkey, whomalled under a tub. |
2. To submerge in or as in a flood; to drown.
| 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 51 Quhomlit in sorow and plungeit in cair. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. s.v. Whommled, ‘To be whommled by a wave,’ to be whelmed in the deep. |
3. intr. To tumble over, capsize; also, to move unsteadily, stumble about.
| 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags xxiii, The deil whummelt on his hearthstane! 1897 ― Lads' Love iii, When..your hoggs [are] whammelin' in the black hags by the score. |