thirl

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /θɝl/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /θɜːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l

Etymology 1

From Middle English thirl, thiril, from Old English þyrel (“hole”), from Proto-West Germanic *þurhil, from Proto-Germanic *þurhilą (“hole, opening”), from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂kʷelo- which is *tr̥h₂kʷe + *-lo (equivalent to through +‎ -le) from *terh₂-. Related to thrill, drill.

Alternative forms

• thurl

Noun

thirl (plural thirls)

1. (archaic or dialectal) A hole, an aperture, especially a nostril.
2. (dialectal) A low door in a dry-stone wall to allow sheep to pass through; a smoot.
3. (mining, possibly obsolete) A short communication between adits in a mine.
4. (mining, possibly obsolete) A long adit in a coalpit.

Related terms

• eyethurl
• nostril

Etymology 2

From Middle English thirlen, thurlen, thorlen, from Old English þȳrlian (“to pierce”), from the noun (see above). Doublet of thrill.

Alternative forms

• thurl

Verb

thirl (third-person singular simple present thirls, present participle thirling, simple past and past participle thirled)

1. (transitive, possibly obsolete) To pierce; to perforate, penetrate, cut through.
   • 1567, Arthur Golding: Ovid's Metamorphoses Bk. 3 lines 78-81

     But yet his hardnesse savde him not against the piercing dart.

     For hitting right betweene the scales that yeelded in that part

     Whereas the joynts doe knit the backe, it thirled through the skin,

     And pierced to his filthy mawe and greedy guts within.

2. (transitive, mining, obsolete) To drill or bore; to cut through, as a partition between one working and another.

Derived terms

• thirlable

Etymology 3

Uncertain. Perhaps a blend of throw +‎ hurl.

Verb

thirl (third-person singular simple present thirls, present participle thirling, simple past and past participle thirled)

1. (obsolete) To throw (a projectile).
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
     , II.8:

     And many Authours doe in this manner wound the protection of their cause, by over-rashly running against that which they take hold-of, thirling [translating lanceant] such darts at their enemies, that might with much more advantage be cast at them.

Etymology 4

Dialectal alteration of thrall.

Alternative forms

• thrill

Verb

thirl (third-person singular simple present thirls, present participle thirling, simple past and past participle thirled)

1. (historical, transitive) To legally bind (a tenant) to the use of one's own property as an owner.
2. (by extension) To bind; to obligate to use or be associated with.
   • 1951, Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time, page 10:

     Was everyone nowadays thirled to a formula?

   • 2005, Alexander McCall Smith, 44 Scotland Street:

     And there are plenty of people — Labour politicians, for example — who want people to remain thirled to poverty, who do not want them to have any spirit or independence.

Related terms

• thirlage

Noun

thirl (plural thirls)

1. (historical) A thrall.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• thurl, torle, thurel

Etymology

From Old English þyrel, from Proto-West Germanic *þurhil, from Proto-Germanic *þurhilą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θirl/, /θurl/

Noun

thirl (plural thirls)

1. An external bodily orifice.

Descendants

• English: thirl
• Yola: thorelucke

References

• “thirl, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.