purl

plural purls

1. A particular stitch in knitting in which the working yarn is pulled through an existing stitch from front to back.
2. The edge of lace trimmed with loops.
3. 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 with purl and pearl.

   The New Arcadia

   a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC

present singular third person purls · participle present purling · participle past purled · past purled

1. To decorate with fringe or embroidered edge

   Needlework purled with gold.

2. businessTo use or create a purl stitch or stitches.

   Knit one, purl two.

   1 more example

   Stockinette fabric is created by knitting the right-side rows and purling the wrong-side rows.

plural purls

1. a heavy or headlong fall; an upset.

present singular third person purls · participle present purling · participle past purled · past purled

1. archaicTo upset, to spin, capsize, fall heavily, fall headlong.

   The huntsman was purled from his horse.

present singular third person purls · participle present purling · participle past purled · past purled

1. intransitiveTo flow with a murmuring sound in swirls and eddies.

   A little creek purled down from the mountain over stones[.]

   1973, Patsy Adam Smith, The Barcoo Salute, Adelaide: Rigby, page 39

   4 more examples

   Swift o'er the rolling pebbles, down the hills, / Louder and louder purl the falling rills.

   1715–1720, Homer, “Book XXI”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC

   There is a water-break formed by a small terrace of rock in mid-stream, and purling with a hollow, delicious monotone—an island of pebbles is above, with here and there smaller ones near the "forks."

   1846 October, Alfred B[illings] Street, “A Day’s Hunting about the Mongaup”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s American Monthly Magazine of Literature and Art, volume XXIX, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: George R. Graham & Co., […], →OCLC, page 190

   At seven minutes past four, while a Bach sonata was purling under the din of the crowd, the President's reaching hand was struck aside, and a man lurched forward. Two shots cracked sharply. There was a moment of dead silence.

   1959, Margaret Leech, “Appointment at Buffalo”, in In the Days of McKinley, New York: Harper & Brothers, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 595

   [T]he road purled out ahead of us for miles, all prospect and promise, like the beginning of a long, good friendship.

   2023 October 23, Murr Brewster, “Grizzlies and caribou and wolves, oh my! Savoring Denali’s delights.”, in The Christian Science Monitor

2. To rise in circles, ripples, or undulations; to curl; to mantle.

   thin winding breath which purled up to the sky

   1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC

plural purls

1. UKdialectalA circle made by the motion of a fluid; an eddy; a ripple.

   Caiſters ſiluer Lake, / […] / VVhoſe ſtreame an eaſie breath doth ſeeme to blovve; / VVhich on the ſparkling grauell runns in purles, / As though the vvaues had been of ſiluer curles.

   [1596], Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], Mortimeriados. The Lamentable Ciuell Warres of Edward the Second and the Barrons, London: […] I. R. for Humfry Lownes, […], →OCLC, signature Q, recto

   1 more example

   Whatsoever had a beginning, can also have an ending; and it shall die, unless it be daily watered with the purls flowing from the fountain of life, and refreshed with the dew of heaven, and the wells of God: […]

   1668, “Twenty-seven Sermons Preached at Golden Grove; Being for the Summer Half-year, […]: Sermon VIII. A Funeral Sermon, &c.”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume VI, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 453

2. UKdialectalA gentle murmuring sound, such as that produced by the running of a liquid among obstructions.

   the purl of a brook

1. UKarchaicdialectaluncountableAle or beer spiced with wormwood or other bitter herbs, regarded as a tonic.

   A double mug of purle.

   1711, The Spectator, number 88

2. UKarchaicdialectaluncountableHot beer mixed with gin, sugar, and spices.

   Drinking hot purl, and smoking pipes.

   1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 60.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   Drank a glass of purl to recover appetite.

   1712 March 14 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, March 4, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 317; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC