Quirl
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To curl or twirl, or twist or coil (up). Southern-US, dialectal
"Ephraim clapped his hand to his side, and rolled his eyes agonizingly towards his mother, but she took no notice. She got some paper out of the cupboard, and Ephraim sat down and began quirling it into long spirals with a wretched sulky air."
Example
More examples"Ephraim clapped his hand to his side, and rolled his eyes agonizingly towards his mother, but she took no notice. She got some paper out of the cupboard, and Ephraim sat down and began quirling it into long spirals with a wretched sulky air."
Etymology
Attested since the 18th century. Considered by other dictionaries to be related to curl. Compare German Quirl, said to be related to twirl.
More for "quirl"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.