Meanings
present singular third person hirples · participle present hirpling · participle past hirpled · past hirpled
- NorthernScotlandUKintransitiveTo walk with a limp, to drag a limb, to walk lamely; to move with a gait somewhere between walking and crawling.
Around lunchtime he hirpled down the corridor to the Gents.
2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 5134 more examples
I saw the hurcheon and the hare In hidlings hirpling here and there,
1597, Alexander Montgomery, The Cherrie and the SlaeGet you on that bicycle and hurry on, and I'll hirple after you the best I can.
1922, John Buchan, HuntingtowerA woman hirpled along the corridor towards them with the aid of a walking frame.
2015, Kate Atkinson, A God in Ruins, →ISBN, page 136He is hasped and hooped and hirpling with pain, limping and looped in it.
1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 31
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo walk with a limp, to drag a limb, to walk lamely; to move with a gait somewhere between walking and crawling.
Origin
- Old Norseherpast“to suffer from cramp”
- Englishhirple
A word of unknown origin, first recorded in Scots sources from the late fifteenth century; but probably from Old Norse herpast (“to suffer from cramp”) the middle voice verb. Compare the Icelandic herpa (“to contract, to draw together”).
More words from Old Norse
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hirple
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Cite this entry
hirple. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hirple
“hirple.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hirple. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hirple,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hirple.
Source: hirple on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.