Meanings
comparative more ourie · superlative most ourie
- ScotlandBleak; melancholy.
1 more example
Familiar with all the seasons he represents the phases of a northern winter with a frequency characteristic of his clime and of his fortunes; her tempests became anthems in his verse, and the sounding woods "raise his thoughts to Him that walketh on the wings of the wind"; full of pity for the shelterless poor, the "ourie cattle," the "silly sheep," and the "helpless birds," he yet reflects that the bitter blast is not "so unkind as man's ingratitude."
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4, "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" (BURNS, ROBERT [1759-1796], Scottish poet)
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*uh₁r-
- Proto-Germanic*ūrą
- Old Norseúr“precipitation”
- Englishourie
From Old Norse úr (“precipitation”), from Proto-Germanic *ūrą, from Proto-Indo-European *uh₁r-, zero grade form of *weh₁r- (“water”). Equivalent to dialectal Swedish urrigt (“chill; having the sensation of cold; shivering”, literally “urr-ie”) – urrigt väder = “chill weather” – partly stemming from urr (“the feeling of shivering”), an onomatopoetic word akin to brr, but potentially also derived from ur (historical alternate spelling: urr).
More words from Old Norse, Proto-Germanic, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ourie. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ourie
“ourie.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ourie. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ourie,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ourie.
Source: ourie on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.