churl
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /tʃɜːl/
ipa: /t͡ʃɝl/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l
Forms: form: churls
Etymology: From Middle English churl, cherl, cheorl (“person not of the nobility or clergy; bondsman, serf, villein; peasant; (also figuratively) servant, slave; unlearned or unrefined person, boor, ignoramus; chap, fellow, man; husband”) [and other forms], from Old English ċeorl (“freeman ranking below a þegn but above a thrall; commoner, peasant; countryman, husbandman; man; husband”), from Proto-West Germanic *kerl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“elder; man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old; to mature”). Doublet of carl /carle, ceorl, and karl.
Sense 2.1 (“rough, surly, ill-bred person”) is probably an extension of sense 1 (“free peasant of the lowest rank; person without royal or noble status; bondman, serf”) and sense 2.2 (“countryman, peasant, rustic”). Sense 2.3 (“person who is stingy”) was influenced by Nabal, who is described in the King James Version of the Bible as “churlish and evil in his doings”; when Nabal, a rich man, is asked to give provisions to David’s men, he replies, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?” (1 Samuel 25:3 and 10–11; spelling modernized).
Cognates
* Danish karl (“fellow, young man, farmhand”)
* Dutch kerel (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Low German kerl, kerel, kirl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* North Frisian tzierl, tjierl, tsjerl (“churl; fellow, man”)
* Old High German charl, charlo (German Kerl (“fellow, man”))
* Old Norse karl (“man”) (Icelandic karl (“man”))
* Polish karzeł (“small man”)
* Scots churl (“a churl; a rustic”)
* Swedish karl (“fellow, man”)
* West Frisian tsjirl (“churl; fellow, man”)
Senses: examples: text: [F]rom this time forvvard I do pardon before God all the vvrongs that they haue done, or ſhall doe vnto me, vvhether they vvere, be, or ſhall be done by high or lovv perſon, rich or poore, Gentleman or Churle, vvithout excepting any ſtate or condition.
ref: 1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Wherein is Rehearsed the Vnfortunate Aduenture Hapned to Don-Quixote, by Encountring with Certaine Yanguesian Carriers”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, part 3, page 116:
topics: feudalism
government
politics
qualifier: obsolete except historical
glosses: A free peasant (as opposed to a serf) of the lowest rank, below an earl and a thane; a freeman; also (more generally), a person without royal or noble status; a commoner.
topics: feudalism
government
politics
qualifier: obsolete except historical
glosses: A bondman or serf.
examples: text: [A] churles curtesie rathely comes but either for gaine, or falshood.
ref: c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
english: The New Arcadia
translation: The New Arcadia
text: Thus ſay the common People that knovv him, A Saint abroad, and a Devil at home: His poor Family finds it ſo, he is ſuch a churl, ſuch a railer at, and ſo unreaſonable vvith his Servants, that they neither knovv hovv to do for, or ſpeak to him.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, pages 106–107:
text: Since it must be so, and this churl has check'd / Thy gentle spirit, go; […]
ref: 1821, Lord Byron, “Sardanapalus”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 10:
text: There are graces in the demeanor of a polished and noble person, which are lost upon the eye of a churl.
ref: 1841, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IV. Spiritual Laws.”, in Essays, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, pages 120–121:
text: "Unmannerly churl!" exclaimed Sybil starting in her chair, her eye flashing lightning, her distended nostril quivering with scorn. "Oh! yes, I am a churl," said Morley; "I know I am a churl. Were I a noble the daughter of the people would perhaps condescend to treat me with less contempt."
ref: 1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter IV, in Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book V, page 54:
synonyms: word: lout
word: yokel
word: bogan
word: boor
word: bumpkin
word: chawbacon
word: chuff
word: churl
word: clenchpoop
word: clown
word: cornball
word: jay
word: kern
word: lamb
word: lubber
word: lout
word: rube
word: Tony Lumpkin
word: tyke
word: peasant
word: unsophisticate
word: yahoo
word: yokel
word: bogger
word: bogtrotter
word: boor
word: bucolic
word: bydlo
word: culchie
word: carl
word: churl
word: corncob
word: cornhusker
word: country bumpkin
word: country cousin
word: clodhopper
word: dubbo
word: joskin
word: hayseed
word: hillbilly
word: hick
word: hob
word: hobnail
word: hog-rubber
word: honyock
word: hunk
word: lob
word: promdi
word: provincial
word: redneck
word: rube
word: rustic
word: woolly back
word: yokel
glosses: A rough, surly, ill-bred person; a boor.
examples: text: And, as the mazy web she whirls, / She sees the surly village-churls, / And the red cloaks of market-girls, / Pass onward from Shalott.
ref: 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, part the second, page 11:
text: “A see T’m Baak’ll,” the Bantam recommenced, and again the contortions of a horrible wink were directed at Richard. The boy might well believe this churl was lying, and he did, and was emboldened to exclaim, “You never saw Tom Bakewell set fire to that rick!”
ref: 1859, George Meredith, “A Fine Distinction”, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, page 179:
text: Look to yourselves, ye polished gentlemen! / No city airs or arts pass current here. / Your rank is all reversed: let men of cloth / Bow to the stalwart churls in overalls: / They are the doctors of the wilderness, / And we the low-priced laymen.
ref: 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Adirondacs. A Journal. Dedicated to My Fellow-travellers in August, 1858.”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 48–49:
synonyms: word: carl
word: fieldling
word: bucolic
word: churl
word: clown
word: country cousin
word: countryman
word: fieldling
word: harlot
word: hob
word: rube
word: ruricolist
word: rustic
word: swain
word: peasant
word: whopstraw
glosses: A countryman, a peasant, a rustic.
examples: text: Juli[et]. […] VVhats heere? a cup in my true loues hand? / Poiſon I ſee hath bin his timeleſſe end: / O churle [referring to Romeo], drunke all, and left no friendly drop.
ref: c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
text: VVrong not thy faire youth, nor the vvorld depriue / Of that great riches Nature freely lent, / Pitie 'tvvere they by niggardize ſhould thriue. / VVhoſe vvealth by vvaxing craueth to be ſpent, / For vvhich thou after iuſtly ſhall be ſhent; / Like to ſome rich churle burying his pelfe, / Both to vvrong others, and to ſterue himſelfe.
ref: 1630, Michaell Draiton [i.e., Michael Drayton], Poems: […], London: […] [Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] Ling, →OCLC:
text: VVithin thine ovvne bud burieſt thy content, / And tender chorle makſt waſt in niggarding: […]
ref: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 1”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
text: The vile perſon ſhall be no more called liberall, nor the churle ſayd to be bountifull.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 32:5, column 2:
text: [W]hen a few words will reſcue miſery out of her diſtreſs, I hate the man who can be a churl of them.
ref: 1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “Calais”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume I, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, page 26:
synonyms: word: carl
word: skinflint
word: carl
word: cheapass
word: cheapie
word: cheapskate
word: cheapo
word: churl
word: clutchfist
word: el cheapo
word: last of the big spenders
word: magpie
word: miser
word: moneygrubber
word: muckworm
word: nickel nurser
word: nig
word: niggard
word: nigon
word: nipcheese
word: nipfarthing
word: penny-father
word: penny pincher
word: pickpenny
word: piker
word: pinch-commons
word: pinch-gut
word: pincher
word: pinchfist
word: pinchpenny
word: scrimp
word: scrooge
word: snudge
word: squirrel
word: skinflint
word: tight-arse
word: tightwad
glosses: A person who is stingy, especially with money; a selfish miser, a niggard.
glosses: A freedman, ranked below a thane but above a thrall.
Derived terms: churlish
churlishly
churlishness
churly