Friday, November 15, 2013

thirl


v.  to pierce, quiver, tingle or thrall
- Century Dictionary & Encyclopedia, 1911 ed.

2 comments:

Spider Jim King said...

Pierce, tingle, quiver and thrall? None of them is even slightly related! "I felt a tingle in my quiver when the pierced thrall approached."

SEE?!

Good name for a group of lawyers, though.

Jay King said...

To be fair, they're different definitions for the same word. Drill or pierce is the main definition. To do so usually causes the object to vibrate, tingle or quiver. As for thrall, that's a separate def, meaning to bind or subject. In that sense, thirling originated as a rule of law that had to be followed by Scottish farmers. They were required to bring their harvested grain to a certain mill for grinding. A portion was procured by the mill as payment. Thus, the thirl. I decided to leave out the nostril definition, but I'm sure you can imagine.