PURL • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Purl

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noun

Purl n.

An embroidered and puckered border; a hem or fringe, often of gold or silver twist; also, a pleat or fold, as of a band. "A triumphant chariot made of carnation velvet, enriched withpurl and pearl."

An inversion of stitches in knitting, which gives to the work a ribbed or waved appearance.

Purl stitch. Same as Purl, n., 2.

Purl n.

A circle made by the notion of a fluid; an eddy; a ripple. "Whose stream an easy breath doth seem to blow, Which on the sparkling gravel runs in purles, As though the waves had been of silver curls."

A gentle murmur, as that produced by the running of a liquid among obstructions; as, the purl of a brook.

Malt liquor, medicated or spiced; formerly, ale or beer in which wormwood or other bitter herbs had been infused, and which was regarded as tonic; at present, hot beer mixed with gin, sugar, and spices. "Drank a glass of purl to recover appetite." "Drinking hot purl, and smoking pipes."

(Zool.) A tern. (Prov. Eng.)

verb

Purl v. t. To decorate with fringe or embroidery. "Nature's cradle more enchased and purled."

Purl v. i. (past & past part. purled; pres. part. purling)

To run swiftly round, as a small stream flowing among stones or other obstructions; to eddy; also, to make a murmuring sound, as water does in running over or through obstructions. "Swift o'er the rolling pebbles, down the hills, Louder and louder purl the falling rills."

To rise in circles, ripples, or undulations; to curl; to mantle. "thin winding breath which purled up to the sky."

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Etymology of 'Purl'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Purl" Quotes from Famous Books

... to the Peacock,—where I found everybody drinking hot purl, in self-preservation,—I asked if there were an inside seat to spare. I then discovered that, inside or out, I was the only passenger. This gave me a still livelier idea of the great inclemency of the weather, ...

— The Holly-Tree • Charles Dickens

... enamelling, and it was not distasteful, in our approach to such a kindly, artificial old place as Hampton Court, to suppose that we were passing through enamelled meads. Under the circumstances we might have expected our train to purl, in default of a stream to perform the part, and I can truly say of it that it arrived with us in a mood so pastoral that I still cannot understand why we did not ask for a fly at the station in a couplet out of Pope. We got the fly easily enough in our prose vernacular, and the driver hid his ...

— London Films • W.D. Howells

... I care how the officers come it over me; they're gentlemen, and it don't try a fellow," would Rake say in confidential moments over purl and a penn'orth of bird's-eye, his experience in the Argentine Republic having left him with strongly aristocratic prejudices; "but when it comes to a duffer like that, that knows no better than me, what ain't a bit better than me, and what is as clumsy a duffer ...

— Under Two Flags • Ouida [Louise de la Ramee]

... skin; and, ye Centaurs! what seats were there!" It must have been a sight for proper men to see. Not the veriest tailor would walk on Derby day. He "would mount a mis-teached hippogriff, and risk the chance of a purl, rather than not show at the covert-side." Who, indeed, would not bestride a steed when he might meet the Assassin and the O'Bluster in the ring? But ...

— Highways and Byways in Surrey • Eric Parker

... up and watched him. He went back to the sloping granite slab, over it, down among the alders, and out of sight. For a moment she heard him among the bushes; then as all sound made by him died away there was only the purl of the creek and the eternal murmur of the pines. Now it seemed to her more silent than before, even when King had sat wordlessly near her. And yet, incongruously, whereas the silence was deepened by utter solitude, the voices of running water and stirring ...

— The Everlasting Whisper • Jackson Gregory

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