Link Centre Dictionary

purl

UK/pɜːl/ US/pʰəːɫ/ fairly common uk
verb (5) noun (2)

verb

1.

flow in a circular current, of liquids

Synonyms
2.

make a murmuring sound

  • “the water was purling”
3.

knit with a purl stitch

4.
5.

noun

1.
2.

Origin

Unknown; apparently related to Scots and dialect pirl (“twist, ripple, whirl, spin”), and possibly to Older Scots pyrl ("thrust or poke at"). Compare Venetan pirlo, an embellishment where the woven threads are twisted together. May be unrelated to purfle, though the meanings are similar.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

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.