Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1818-1860, 1925
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‡TORFLE, v., n. Also torfel, toorfel; †torchel. [torfl]
I. v. 1. To come to grief or death, through disease or accident, esp. in a storm, to pine away, perish, be lost (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl., torfel, torchel; Rxb. 1808 Jam., 1923 Watson W.-B.). Ppl.adjs. torflin, somewhat ailing, in indifferent health (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 319), phr. in a torflin way, id., so so (Id.); torfelled, undone, lost.Slk. 1823 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) ii.:
Better be feared in time, than torfelled for ever. Better conquer your bad humour for aince, than be conquessed for it through sae many ages.Rxb. c.1860 in Watson W.-B.:
I'se raad he'll toorfel.
†2. To draw back from a design or purpose (Rxb. 1825 Jam.), to lose one's ardour or enthusiasm.Slk. 1820 Hogg Winter Ev. Tales II. 41:
I fleechyt Eleesabett noore to lat us torfell in the waretyme of owir raik.
‡3. tr. and intr. To toss or tumble about (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Ppl.adj. torfelled, -fellt, of the hair: blown about, dishevelled.Slk. 1818 Hogg Wool-gatherer (1874) 72:
A naked woman torfelling on the Alemoor loch, wi' her hands tied behind her back, and a heavy stane at her neck.Rxb. 1847 H. S. Riddell Poems 40:
Their ringlets fluttered round their lily necks, As if they had, by the effects, Been torfelled wi' the weather.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 21:
Hair aa torfellt an toozellt.
II. n. The state of being unwell, a declining state of health (Rxb. 1825 Jam.).
[In the senses of I. also in n.Eng. dial. North. Mid.Eng. torfie, to fall into a decline, founder. Orig. uncertain, but poss. a variant with extension of meaning of North. Mid.Eng. torfer, hardship, harm, injury, O.N. torfǽra, a difficult journey or passage, torfǽrr, difficult to pass through, from tor-, hard, difficult, + fara, to go, proceed. The form torfer is also found in n.Eng. dial.]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Torfle v., n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/torfle>
