thirl

plural thirls · alternative thurl

1. otherwise archaicA hole, an aperture, especially a nostril.
2. dialectalA low door in a dry-stone wall to allow sheep to pass through; a smoot.
3. obsoletebusinessA short communication between adits in a mine.
4. obsoletebusinessA long adit in a coalpit.

present singular third person thirls · participle present thirling · participle past thirled · past thirled · alternative thurl

1. transitiveotherwise obsoleteTo pierce; to perforate, penetrate, cut through.

   But yet his hardnesse savde him not against the piercing dart. For hitting right betweene the scales that yeelded in that part Whereas the joynts doe knit the backe, it thirled through the skin, And pierced to his filthy mawe and greedy guts within.

   1567, Arthur Golding: Ovid's Metamorphoses Bk. 3 lines 78-81

2. obsoletetransitivebusinessTo drill or bore; to cut through, as a partition between one working and another.

present singular third person thirls · participle present thirling · participle past thirled · past thirled

1. obsoleteTo throw (a projectile).

   And many Authours doe in this manner wound the protection of their cause, by over-rashly running against that which they take hold-of, thirling [translating lanceant] such darts at their enemies, that might with much more advantage be cast at them.

   , II.8

present singular third person thirls · participle present thirling · participle past thirled · past thirled · alternative thrill

1. historicaltransitiveTo legally bind (a tenant) to the use of one's own property as an owner.
2. broadlyTo bind; to obligate to use or be associated with.

   Was everyone nowadays thirled to a formula?

   1951, Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time, page 10

   1 more example

   And there are plenty of people — Labour politicians, for example — who want people to remain thirled to poverty, who do not want them to have any spirit or independence.

   2005, Alexander McCall Smith, 44 Scotland Street

plural thirls · alternative thrill

1. historicalA thrall.