pirn
Americannoun
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a weaver's bobbin, spool, or reel.
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a fishing reel.
noun
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a reel or bobbin
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(in weaving) the spool of a shuttle
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a fishing reel
Etymology
Origin of pirn
1400–50; late Middle English pyrne < ?
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.
The first thing he saw was a half-finished reel of cotton—a pirn, he called it.
From Robert Falconer by George MacDonald
To wind him a pirn, to make him repent of what he has done.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume XXIV. by Alexander Leighton
An my auld acquaintance be hersel, or onything like hersel, she may come to wind us a pirn.
From The Proverbs of Scotland by Alexander Hislop
"The Keeper will rue this before year and day are out," said a third; "the Master of Ravenswood is the lad to wind him a pirn."
From The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott
There's a chield can spin a muckle pirn out of a wee tait of tow!
From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1 by Sir Walter Scott
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.
