carl

or carle

[kahrl]

noun

Scot.
1. a strong, robust fellow, especially a strong manual laborer.
2. a miser; an extremely thrifty person.
Archaic. a churl.
Obsolete. a bondman.

Origin of carl

before 1000 (in compounds; see housecarl); Middle English; Old English -carl < Old Norse karl man; cognate with Old High German karl; akin to churl

Related formscarl·ish, adjectivecarl·ish·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for carle

Contemporary Examples of carle

“The whole ticking-time-bomb thesis is … so cockamamie,” said Carle.
Human Rights Watch: Prosecute Bush, Cheney Over Torture Crimes
R.M. Schneiderman
July 12, 2011
“Prosecutions will divide us and not make these excesses less likely,” said Carle.
Human Rights Watch: Prosecute Bush, Cheney Over Torture Crimes
R.M. Schneiderman
July 12, 2011
These claims are absolutely false, according to former interrogators such as Carle and Kleinman.
Human Rights Watch: Prosecute Bush, Cheney Over Torture Crimes
R.M. Schneiderman
July 12, 2011

Historical Examples of carle

I'll never have the man who's wanting the strick of carle hemp in the making of him!'
Two Penniless Princesses
Charlotte M. Yonge
“That will be our supper to-night,” observed the carle, as he disengaged the spear.
Erling the Bold
R.M. Ballantyne
Then the carle said, “Another cup for the longer after youth!”
The Story of the Glittering Plain
William Morris
Said the carle: "We have come the shortest way this bitter morning; that is all."
The Sundering Flood
William Morris
Quoth the carle: "It is down in this ghyll that my master promised to abide me."
The Sundering Flood
William Morris

British Dictionary definitions for carle

carl

carle

noun

archaic another word for churl

Word Origin for carl

Old English, from Old Norse karl

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for carle

carl

c.1300, "bondsman; common man, man of low birth," from Old Norse karl "man, male, freeman," from Proto-Germanic *karlon-, the same root that produced Old English ceorl "man of low degree" (see churl).

The Mellere was a stout carle for the nones [Chaucer]

Carl

masc. proper name, from Middle High German Karl "man, husband" (see carl).