carl
See also: Carl
English edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English carl, from Old English carl, a borrowing from Old Norse karl (“man, husband”), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. Doublet of churl.
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /kɑːl/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /kɑɹl̩/
- Rhymes: -ɑːl, -ɑɹl̩
Noun edit
carl (plural carls)
- A rude, rustic man; a churl.
- Synonyms: hick, hob; see also Thesaurus:country bumpkin
- 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:
- In Lent noblemen and carls alike had got into the traces and pulled the carts of stone themselves.
- (Scotland, obsolete) A stingy person; a niggard.
- Synonyms: skinflint, tightwad; see also Thesaurus:miser
Etymology 2 edit
Uncertain.
Alternative forms edit
Verb edit
carl (third-person singular simple present carls, present participle carling, simple past and past participle carled)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To snarl; to talk grumpily or gruffly.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:, New York 2001, p.210:
- […] full of ache, sorrow, and grief, children again, dizzards, they carle many times as they sit, and talk to themselves, they are angry, waspish, displeased with everything […]
See also edit
Anagrams edit
Old English edit
Etymology edit
From Old Norse karl (Danish karl (“man”), Swedish karl (“man”)), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“man, male”). Cognate with Old High German karl, karal and related to Old English ċeorl.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
carl m