Carl
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A rude, rustic man; a churl.
"In Lent noblemen and carls alike had got into the traces and pulled the carts of stone themselves."
- 2 A student at Carleton College, Minnesota. informal
"Located in rural Minnesota, Carleton is not surrounded by any cultural diversity unless you count pig farms and cow farms as separately diverse institutions. The nice thing about Carleton is that Carls are pretty much non-judgmental […]"
- 3 A stingy person; a niggard. Scotland, obsolete
- 1 To snarl; to talk grumpily or gruffly. intransitive, obsolete
"[…] full of ache, sorrow, and grief, children again, dizzards, they carle many times as they sit, and talk to themselves, they are angry, waspish, displeased with everything […]"
- 1 A male given name from the Germanic languages, equivalent to English Charles.
"Of course you know that Carl Duruside, or 'Doctor Carl', as he is always called by almost anybody, is my husband's brother?"
Example
More examples"Ben ran a 100-meter race with Carl."
Etymology
From Middle English carl, from Old English carl, a borrowing from Old Norse karl (“man, husband”), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. Doublet of ceorl, churl, and karl.
Uncertain.
From Germanic, cognate with English Charles. * From German and other north European Carl and Karl. * From Latin Carolus.
Shortening.
More for "carl"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.