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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CHIRL, Churl, v. and n.¹ [tʃɪ̢rl, tʃʌrl]

1. v.

(1) To chirp, twitter, warble; “to emit a low melancholy sound, as birds do in winter, or before a storm” (Clydes. 1825 Jam.²). Also ppl.adj. chirlin.Ags. 1988 Raymond Vettese The Richt Noise 104:
The chirikin chirlin chook o a blackie
on the shedruif in the gairden ae day
in simmer.m.Sc. 1986 Colin Mackay The Song of the Forest 181:
It looked for all the world as though there was a war in heaven, with armies of wee black devils chirling the gates and dinging at the walls of it, ... Edb. 1884 W. S. McIntosh in Mod. Sc. Poets Series ix. 70:
An' aye [the burnie] guttered an' clang, An' yattered, an' yammered, an' chirled alang.Bwk. 1832–1846 W. A. Foster in Whistle-Binkie (2nd Series) 249:
The laverock's chirlin' in the sky, far, far aboon our ken.Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage, etc. 179:
O! her cheek's like the rosy glow That maks the birdies chirl.Kcb. 1815 J. Gerrond Works 112:
In vain the woodcock taks a whirl In vain to him the partricks churl.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
The robin chirl't an' flew off.

†(2) “To whistle shrilly” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.²; 1923 Watson W.-B., obs.).

†(3) “To laugh immoderately” (Dmf. 1825 Jam.²).

‡2. n. A chirp, warble; “a low melancholy sound” (Clydes. 1825 Jam.²). Given by Watson as obsol.Dmf. 1834 J. W. Carlyle Letters (ed. Froude 1883) I. 3:
His [Leigh Hunt's] voice . . . had a kind of musical warble (“chirl” we vernacularly called it) which reminded one of singing-birds.Dmf. 1898 Thomas Carlyle, ed. C. E. Norton Two Note Books of Thomas Carlyle from 23rd March 1822 to 16th May 1832 (1972) 199:
Godwin has not impressed me with very high notions of him: yet I still see him with his quick short laugh (in the end of which lies a chirl, as there did in Gilbert Burns's), parson's black coat, firm position in his chair, and general handfest appearance.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.:
The bird ga'e a chirl.