the act of furling.
something furled, as a roll.
furl in the bunt, to furl (a square sail) by gathering canvas upward, so as to load the yard equally at all points.
furl in a body, to furl (a square sail) with loose canvas gathered at the mast, so as to make a harbor furl.
to roll up (an umbrella, a flag, etc) neatly and securely or (of an umbrella, flag, etc) to be rolled up in this way
(tr) nautical to gather in (a square sail)
the act or an instance of furling
a single rolled-up section
1550–60; compare Middle French ferler in same sense, perhaps representing Old French ferlier to chain, fasten, equivalent to fer firm (< Latin firmus ) + lier to bind (< Latin ligāre )
To furl is to roll something up, the way you furl your sleeping bag before sliding it into your backpack on a camping trip. Furl comes from roots meaning "to hold firmly" and "to bind." It's frequently used when sailors take down sails and roll them securely: "Furl the main sail! There's a storm brewing!" You can also use it for a leaf or flower that's curled up, as opposed to unfurled: "Those blossoms furl at night and open in the daytime." Or, if you want to show off your vocabulary, you might say: "Let me just furl these burritos and then we can eat."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Told in rhyming verse, Carroll’s trademark use of deep reds and blue give the proceedings an eerie whimsy, and her layouts — always brilliant — furl and explode across the page.
From The Verge ● Dec. 13, 2018
Smith: I go out on the yard to furl the sail and all that stuff.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2017
It's a lightbox in which a furl of lurid pink seems to unroll from the mouth of a black-and-white MRI scanner.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 21, 2011
Behind him, shaven-headed demonstrators furl the English flag, the Cross of St. George.
From Time ● Jul. 29, 2011
During my road trip that doesn't matter, because I have to furl it every day anyway.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Her Bengali furls backward toward its village origins.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 28, 2016
As furls of smoke spread out on a screen above him, a voice intoned "This is the night of the demon" over thunderous bass.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 27, 2010
When blythe the blue e'ed dawnin' Steals saftly o'er the lawnin', And furls night's sable awnin', I love to think o' thee.
From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume V. The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century by Rogers, Charles
The harbour lies below, and a fishing boat running in furls its large triangular sail and drops its anchor.
From Naples Past and Present by Norway, Arthur H.
What shall be done when public credit staggers, when commerce furls her slackened sail, when property all over the nation changes its owners and relations?
From An Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism With reference to the duty of American females by Beecher, Catharine Esther
They packed up their chairs and furled banners, as the makeshift tent city slowly transformed back into a standard campus plaza.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2024
The baby’s tail or “fluke,” critical to swimming, was still furled from being compacted in utero.
From National Geographic ● Aug. 31, 2023
And it was before a short, ruffled cocktail frock appeared, with the frills at the back furled like rose petals and the front obscured by a refrigerator.
From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2021
Behind them, high-stepping drummers beat on the undersides of Hechinger buckets with Hechinger paint stirrers while others provide accompaniment with the zzzzzip sound of their Hechinger tape measures being unfurled and furled.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2020
The Conte's boat swayed with its furled sails by the jetty.
From "The Thief Lord" by Cornelia Funke
Near the bandstand, a group of people danced in a circle to Khmer music, dreamily furling their fingers and twisting their wrists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
Decades after the furling of Britain’s union flag, he waved his liberation credentials with such skill and frequency that he stood as an emblem, however flawed, of Africa’s yearning to be free of outside control.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2017
Mostly, though, what’s satisfying about “Other Lives” is that there’s some actual meat on the bones of the story; it’s not just insinuation and cigarette smoke furling into a dark bar.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2015
A problem with the furling system on the main sail was the cause of Ainslie's problems, according to Branson.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2015
Some of the crew were on the yards, furling the sails; some of them, down below.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
