Link Centre Dictionary

gnarled

gnar·led

UK/nɑː(ɹ)ld/ US/ˈnɑrld/ uncommon

adjective

1.

used of old persons or old trees; covered with knobs or knots

  • “gnarled and knotted hands”
  • “a knobbed stick”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

First attested Shakespeare 1603: : Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt Splits the vn-wedgable [unwedgable] and gnarled Oke [oak]. : Measure for Measure, Act II, scene ii, line 116 Variant of knurled, from knurl. By surface analysis, gnarl + -ed, though gnarl is a later back-formation. Popular use by 19th century.

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.