Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

FURL, v., n.¹ Also †forle, †furril. n.Sc. forms and usages of Eng. whirl. See P.L.D. § 134 and cf. Forl.

I. v. As in Eng., to whirl, to spin round, to turn, tr. and intr. (ne.Sc., Ags. 1953).Abd. a.1784 A. Ross Works (S.T.S.) 170:
He dances best that dances fast, . . . And furls about the feezings o't.Abd. 1909 Banffshire Jnl. (9 Feb.) 6:
Ach, ye muckle stoopit gype, ye just cut the figure aucht, trok quines, an' furl.Bch. 1949 W. R. Melvin Poems 9:
But she's unco spare o' Christmas fare — The kin' that furls ye roon.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 53:
The winscreen o wir car sugared an drappit in wir laps like smush, an the lang bleck toorie o rikk furled inno the set o a mushie's heid.

Hence furlie, a familiar name for a turner (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 56); furlin yett, a turnstile (Mry.¹, Bnff.² 1928).Mry. 1852 in L. Shaw Hist. Moray (ed. Gordon 1882) I. 381:
The Council . . . agreed to shut up the old footpath called “The Furlin' Yetts.”

II. n. 1. As in Eng.: a whirl, swirl, a circular motion (ne.Sc., Ags. 1953). Hence furl-pool (Cai. 1900 E.D.D.); furl-win (Abd. 1923 R. L. Cassie Heid or Hert xvii.).ne.Sc. 1881 W. Gregor Folk-Lore 65:
The whirlwind that raises the dust on roads is called “a furl o' fairies' ween.”Mry. 1883 F. Sutherland Poems 33:
The furl in the water.Abd. 1933 J. H. Smythe Barrowsgate 38:
Sae wi' a final furl He cuist the hinmost wup.

Phr.: ‡furl o' (furly-) birse, the ace of spades (Bnff.², Abd.⁹ 1943), from the intrieate flowery ornamentation which gen. appears on this card. Given in E.D.D. as = knave of trumps, evidently under a misapprehension.Abd. 1900 E.D.D.:
At a game of cards the remark was made, “Furlybirs is latchin' [lagging].”

2. “A short time of stormy weather; a sharp attack of disease” (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 56).