Meaning

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of wurly (“derisorily small”)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (Scotland) Alternative spelling of wurly (“derisorily small”).
2. (Scotland) gnarled, knotted; wizened, wrinkled.
3. Alternative spelling of wurley.

Example Sentences

Wurlie, 1. Contemptibly puny, or small in size; as "a wurlie bodie," an ill-grown person, Fife, Loth.

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.).

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.

But latterly they came in good numbers, and commenced a nightly system of annoyance by dancing their corroberies:[…]. Finding remonstrance of no avail, one evening, when they were all seated quietly at the wurlie [footnote: Encampment.], I fired a charge of small shot into the midst of them, and retired to the hut: in the morning they had all disappeared.

Word Forms

• wurlier
• more wurlie
• wurliest
• most wurlie
• wurlies

Synonyms for wurlie

Related Words

When Should You Use Wurlie?

Use wurlie when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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