Thirl
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A hole, an aperture, especially a nostril.
- 2 A thrall. historical
- 3 A low door in a dry-stone wall to allow sheep to pass through; a smoot. dialectal
- 4 A short communication between adits in a mine. obsolete
- 5 A long adit in a coalpit. obsolete
- 1 To pierce; to perforate, penetrate, cut through. transitive
"But yet his hardnesse savde him not against the piercing dart. For hitting right betweene the scales that yeelded in that part Whereas the joynts doe knit the backe, it thirled through the skin, And pierced to his filthy mawe and greedy guts within."
- 2 To throw (a projectile). obsolete
"And many Authours doe in this manner wound the protection of their cause, by over-rashly running against that which they take hold-of, thirling [translating lanceant] such darts at their enemies, that might with much more advantage be cast at them."
- 3 To legally bind (a tenant) to the use of one's own property as an owner. historical, transitive
- 4 To drill or bore; to cut through, as a partition between one working and another. obsolete, transitive
- 5 To bind; to obligate to use or be associated with. broadly
"Was everyone nowadays thirled to a formula?"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"But yet his hardnesse savde him not against the piercing dart. For hitting right betweene the scales that yeelded in that part Whereas the joynts doe knit the backe, it thirled through the skin, And pierced to his filthy mawe and greedy guts within."
Etymology
From Middle English thirl, thiril, from Old English þyrel (“hole”), from Proto-West Germanic *þurhil, from Proto-Germanic *þurhilą (“hole, opening”), from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂kʷelo- which is *tr̥h₂kʷe + *-lo, from *terh₂-. Related to thrill, drill. By surface analysis, through + -le.
From Middle English thirlen, thurlen, thorlen, from Old English þȳrlian (“to pierce”), from the noun (see above). Doublet of thrill.
Uncertain. Perhaps a blend of throw + hurl.
Dialectal alteration of thrall.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.