wurly
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈwɜːliː/
ipa: /ˈwɝli/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)liː
homophone: wurley
Forms: form: wurlier
form: more wurly
form: wurliest
form: most wurly
form: wirly
form: wurlie
Senses: examples: text: Wurlie, 1. Contemptibly puny, or small in size; as "a wurlie bodie," an ill-grown person, Fife, Loth.
ref: [1825, John Jamieson, “Wurlie”, in Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: […], volume II (K–Z) (in Scots), Edinburgh: […] University Press; for W[illiam] & C[harles] Tait, […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 700, column 2:
text: Thy wee roun' pate sae black and curly, / Thy twa bare feet, sae stoure an' burly, / The biting frost, though snell an' surly / An' sair to bide, / Is scouted by thee, thou hardy wurly, / Wi' sturdy pride.
ref: 1856, James Ballantine, “The Wee Raggit Laddie”, in [John D. Carrick, Alexander Rodger, and David Robertson], editors, Whistle-binkie or The Piper of the Party: Being a Collection of Songs for the Social Circle, new edition, Glasgow: David Robertson & Co., published 1873, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 158:
text: Wurly [wur·li], adj. A very small portion of anything is of a wurly size; gen. 'What a wurly bit o' bread, and nought on 't!'[…], i.e. no butter, or anything on. The r is often strongly trilled in this word.
ref: [1876, C. Clough Robinson, “Wurly”, in A Glossary of Words Pertaining to the Dialect of Mid-Yorkshire; wth Others Peculiar to Lower Nidderdale. To which is Prefixed an Outline Grammar of the Mid-Yorkshire Dialect (Series C (Original Glossaries, and Glossaries with Fresh Additions); V), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., 57 & 59, Ludgate Hill, →OCLC, page 158, column 2:
text: WIRL, sb. Sc. Yks. […] A small and harsh-featured person; an ill-grown child; a stunted animal. […] Hence (1) Wirly, adj. puny, small; (2) Wirly-bit, sb. a short time; a little way; a small portion. (1) Sc. There's nae a pilchard in my creel, Nor wurlie sprat … They're firm and fat (Jam.).
ref: [1905, “WIRL, sb.”, in Joseph Wright, editor, The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 515, column 1:
qualifier: Northern England (Yorkshire)
glosses: Of an object: derisorily small, tiny; of a person: puny, stunted.
examples: text: Wurlie, […] 2. Rough, knotted; as, "a wurlie rung," a knotted stick, S. It is applied to a stick that is distorted, Lanarks. As this sense, however, is considerably remote from the other, the term may have had a different origin. 3. Wrinkled, applied to a person; as, a wurly body, Lanarks.
ref: [1825, John Jamieson, “Wurlie”, in Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: […], volume II (K–Z), Edinburgh: […] University Press; for W[illiam] & C[harles] Tait, […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 700, column 2:
glosses: gnarled, knotted; wizened, wrinkled.
Synonyms: sense: derisorily small
word: dinky
word: petty
word: puny
word: small
word: tiny
sense: gnarled, knotted
word: gnarly
sense: gnarled, knotted
word: knobbly
sense: gnarled, knotted
word: knobby
sense: gnarled, knotted
word: knotty
sense: wizened, wrinkled
word: bewrinkled
word: rugose
word: wrinkly
word: wrinkled