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Thursday word: pirl
Apr. 23rd, 2015 08:08 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
prettygoodword.livejournal.compirl (PERL) - v., to twist, to wind; to spin (as a top); to swirl or ripple (as water or air).
This is a bit of a puzzler, as its origin is uncertain despite -- or perhaps because of -- a small host of similar words such as purl, pirn, and prill with similar meanings. But ultimately, all we can say is that it started being used around 1500 in the first of the above senses. The last sense seems to have developed specifically in Scotland, but it's the one I know best in the States, go figure.
The pirling waves lapped the evening lakeshore.
---L.
This is a bit of a puzzler, as its origin is uncertain despite -- or perhaps because of -- a small host of similar words such as purl, pirn, and prill with similar meanings. But ultimately, all we can say is that it started being used around 1500 in the first of the above senses. The last sense seems to have developed specifically in Scotland, but it's the one I know best in the States, go figure.
The pirling waves lapped the evening lakeshore.
---L.
