Birle
verb ·1 syllable ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To pour a drink (for). Scotland, obsolete
"c.1882-1898, Francis James Child (collector and editor), Child's Ballads, Number 68: "Young Hunting", She has birld in him Young Hunting / The good ale and the beer, / Till he was as fou drunken / As any wild-wood steer."
- 2 cause a floating log to rotate by treading wordnet
- 3 To drink deeply or excessively; carouse. Scotland, obsolete
"c.1882-1898, Francis James Child (collector and editor), Child's Ballads, Number 73: "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet", They birled, they birled at Annies wake / The white bread and the wine, / And ere the morn at that same time / At his they birled the same."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"c.1882-1898, Francis James Child (collector and editor), Child's Ballads, Number 68: "Young Hunting", She has birld in him Young Hunting / The good ale and the beer, / Till he was as fou drunken / As any wild-wood steer."
Etymology
From Middle English birlen, from Old English byrelian (“to give or serve a drink to”), from byrele (“cupbearer, steward, butler”), from Proto-Germanic *burilijaz (“carrier, manservant”), from *burjô (“descendant, son”), from *beraną (“to bear, carry”). Related to Old English byre (“son, offspring, youth”). More at bear.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.