birling

American  

[bur-ling] / ˈbɜr lɪŋ /

noun

Chiefly Northern U.S.

1. a game played by lumberjacks, in which each tries to balance longest on a floating log while rotating the log with the feet.

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Etymology

Origin of birling

birl + -ing ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

birling

There was sea salt in the air, and sleepless seagulls were birling in the darkness overhead.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2020

In the once buzzing sawmill town of Gladstone, on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, lumberjacks last week played at their favorite sport, birling.

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

Why was the sympathy of the crowd with Jimmy Powers in the birling match?

From Americans All Stories of American Life of To-Day by Benjamin A. Heydrick

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