birle
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
Etymology
Origin of birle
before 1000; Middle English birlen, Old English byrelian, derivative of byrele butler; akin to bear 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Boucher and Jamieson have collected much regarding the obsolete use of the verb to birle, to carouse, to pour out liquor.
From Notes and Queries, Number 72, March 15, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by George Bell
But Time had set her pechin' sair, As on his way he birled; The body startit failin' fast An' gettin' auld an' nirled.
From The Auld Doctor and other Poems and Songs in Scots by David Rorie
True Thomas played upon his harp, That birled and brattled to his hand, And the next least word True Thomas made, It garred the King take horse and brand.
From Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling
The boy waved his hat and birled the log until the spray flew.
From The Rules of the Game by Stewart Edward White
John birled a bright sovereign on the counter, one of twenty old Gourlay had battered his brains to get together for the boy's expenses.
From The House with the Green Shutters by George Douglas Brown
There was sea salt in the air, and sleepless seagulls were birling in the darkness overhead.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2020
It was the first national birling championship in three years.
From Time Magazine Archive
In birling, two sure-footed log-rollers, standing on a peeled log floating in the water, try to spin it so as to roll each other off.
From Time Magazine Archive
Oldtimers in Bay City remembered Percy as one of the lumberjacks who used to come into town in the '903 birling logs down the Saginaw Bay.
From Time Magazine Archive
Glenlyon and his brother John125 Were birling in the ha', When they heard Johnie's bridle ring As fast he rade awa'.
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume IV by Various
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.
