Sc. and north. Forms: 4–5 werstil, (5 werstle, -ssle, wyrstylle), 6 wersil, (virsle, worsill), 5 warstel, 6 warsill, 4–5, 8– warstle, 8– warsel, 6– warsle. [Metathetic var. of WRESTLE v.]
1. intr. To wrestle (together, with an antagonist), to struggle (against an adversary).
13[?]. Cursor M., 3933 (Gött.). In hand he [Jacob] lahut an angel briht, Þat in handis werstild [Cott. wristeld, Fairf. wrestled, Trin. wrestleled] þai.
c. 1400. Brut, 319. Oppon þe sond of the Scottyssh see … þere were sene ij. Eglez,… & cruelly & strongly þey foughten togider & warstled togider.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., II. iii. 224. Wytht hym wyrstyllyde the Angelle.
c. 1440. Partonope, 2306. And thus they warsteled and stryvid sore.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 943. Som lappe, som werstild.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 493. To worsill or cast the stane, In all Ingland that tyme maik had he nane.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 468. To feght with God, and to ovircum him, as Jacob did in warsling with his Angell.
a. 1823. Twa Brothers, ii. in Sharpe, Ballad Bk. (1823), 57. They warsled up, they warsled down, Till Sir John fell to the ground.
b. transf. and fig.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxiv. 16. Quha with this warld dois warsill and stryfe, And dois his dayis in dolour dryfe.
1787. Burns, Brigs of Ayr, 79. He seem’d as he wi’ Time had warstl’d lang.
1902. Joanna E. Wood, Farden Ha’, xiii. 242. It isna for us tae come tae grups wi’ the facts o’ oor lives; we must jist tak’ them and no’ warstle wi’ them.
c. trans. To wrestle with (an adversary). In quots. chiefly fig.
1790. Burns, Scots Prol., 44. Ye’ll soon hae poets o’ the Scottish nation, Will … warsle Time, and lay him on his back.
1804. Tannahill, Coggie, iii. The puir man’s patron coggie, It warsels care, it fechts life’s fauchts.
1820. Hogg, Winter Even. Tales, I. 289. I’m sair cheatit gin some o’ your warstlers dinna warstle you out o’ ony bit virtue … that ye hae.
a. 1830. Twa Brothers, ii. in Child, Ballads, I. 439/1. But gin ye come to yonder wood I’ll warsle you a fa’.
2. intr. To struggle, to move with struggle or effort (against, through, over, out of, up); also with advs., as by, on, out, over, round.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 3384. The ded hors lyith virslyng with the men.
1553. Douglas’s Æneis, XIII. iv. 82. Or like as that, on the house syde the snale,… Ane lang tyme gan do wersil [older text wrassill], and to wrele Thristand fast with thare feit, vnto the wale.
1783. Burns, Death Poor Mailie, 4. As Mailie … Was ae day nibbling on the tether, Upon her cloot she coost a hitch, An’ owre she warsl’d in the ditch.
c. 1790. A. Wilson, Loss o’ the Pack. For aye the mair I warsled round and roun’, I fand mysel’ aye stick the deeper down.
1891. M. Muriel Dowie, Girl in Karp., 231. Holes over my depth, but none but what I might have warsled out of.
1895. ‘Ian Maclaren,’ Dr. of the Old School, i. 34. Neither can you ‘warstle’ through the peat bogs and snow drifts for forty winters without a touch of rheumatism.
b. transf. of an inanimate thing.
1788. Picken, Poems Scot. Dial., 107. An’ let him kiss the tear awa’, That warsles doun thy charmin face.
1822. Galt, Provost, xxiv. The five poor barks, that were warsling against the strong arm of the elements.
c. fig.
a. 1600. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xlii. 9. Warsill, as it war against ȝour will, Appeiring angrie, thoght ȝe haif no yre.
1821. W. Sutherland, Poems & Songs, 32. Yet happy still, blest wi’ content, They warsle through.
1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1842), 116. A mickle share o’ love we’ve had The warld as we’ve warsled through.
a. 1877. W. Chisholm, Poems (1879), 62. Auld Time warsles by wi’ slow an’ laggin’ wing.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, xii. It was a driech employ, and praise the Lord that I have warstled through with it!
1895. Anna M. Stoddart, J. S. Blackie, II. 233. He was sent to a tutorial class for a month or two, after which he was allowed to warstle through.
1901. G. Douglas, House w. Green Shutters, xxii. Lots of young chaps, when they warstle through their Arts, teach the sons of swells.
d. quasi-trans. To get (something out, up, on) with a struggle.
c. 1790. A. Wilson, Loss o’ the Pack. Ay! thae were days indeed, that gar’d me hope, Aiblins, through time, to warsle up a shop.
1887. Service, Dr. Duguid, I. xx. I … warsled on my claes.
1888. D. Grant, Sc. Stories, 72. That was a question that cost me nae little serious reflection an’ prospection; but I warsled it oot in my ain min’.
Hence Warsling vbl. sb. Also Warsler, a wrestler.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., I. 340. Coryne … or Cornewell first, had grete liking To cast þai carllis in werstling. Ibid., III. 974. Off turnamentis or of justynge, Menstrailssy or gret wersslynge.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, I. 22. He hes att warslingis beine ane hunder.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 340. All kynd of games … as … lepping ryding and warsling.
1820. Warstler [see WARSLE v. 1 c.]
