Also 4–7 karl(e, 5 karll, 6 carril, cairle, carll. [a. ON. karl (Sw. Da. karl) man, male, freeman, man of the people; found in OE., from the time of the Danish kings, in hús-carl, later also in butse-carl, and carlman, but not as a separate word. ON. karl = OHG. charal, karl, MHG. karl:—OTeut. type *karlo-z. OHG. had also charlo, MHG. charle, karle:—OTeut. type *karlon-. Besides these the LG. dialects have an ablaut form repr. an OTeut. type *kerlo-z, viz. OE. ceorl (from cerl), MDu. kērel, kerle, Du. kerel, MLG. kerle (whence mod.G. kerl), Fris. tzerl: see CHURL. The form karl appears as the proper name Karl, OE. Carl, L. Carolus, Fr. and Eng. Charles: cf. CHARLES’ WAIN.]
1. A man of the common people; more particularly a countryman, a husbandman. arch.
[1000. See HOUSE-CARL, BUSCARL, CARMAN2].
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 226. Stalwart karlis … and wycht. Ibid., X. 158. He wes a stout carle and a sture.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 545. The Mellere was a stout carl for the nones.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xi. 90. Thai sparyt nowther carl na page.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 62. Carle or chorle, rusticus.
c. 1450. Merlin, xi. 167. They saugh come a grete karl thourgh the medowes.
1509. Barclay, Ship of Fooles (1570), 159. Fye rurall carles, awake I say and rise.
c. 1550. Sir J. Balfour, Practicks, 510 (Jam.). Cairles, and men of mean conditioun.
1552. Huloet, Churle or carle of the countrey, rusticus.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, II. 435. They clothe the mountain carl or mariner.
1820. Scott, Monast., xvii. It seems as if you had fallen asleep a carle, and awakened a gentleman.
1821. Joanna Baillie, Malcom’s Heir, xii. 2. By lord and by carle forgot.
1876. Morris, Sigurd, II. 87. And kings of the carles are these.
† b. esp. A bondman, a villain; cf. CHURL. Obs. (after 1500 blending with prec.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 29444. Þe toþer … es woman, carl o feild, and child þat es wit-in eild.
c. 1400. Cato’s Morals, 313, in Cursor M., p. 1673. If þou haue carlis boȝt to serue þe in þi þoȝt.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 62. Carle or chorle, bondeman or woman, servus nativus, serva nativa.
c. 1440. York Myst., xi. 191. We are harde halden here als carls vndir þe kyng.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 148/2. He tormented a uylayn or a carle for the couetyse of hys good.
1530. Palsgr., 203/1. Carle, chorle, uilain.
1549. Compl. Scot., xvii. 144. The discriptione of ane vilaine (quhilk ve cal ane carl in our scottis langage).
[1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., x. (1862), 140. The oath of a … king’s thane, being of equal avail with that of six carles or peasants.]
2. Hence, A fellow of low birth or rude manners; a base fellow; a churl. In later times, passing into a vague term of disparagement or contempt, and chiefly with appropriate epithets. Sc. (kerl) or arch.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13808. ‘Þou carl, qui brekes þou vr lau.’
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 876. An out-comlyng, a carle, we kytte of þyn heued.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 559. The karl of Kaymes kyn.
1476. Sir J. Paston, Lett., 776, III. 163. They weer ffrowarde karlys.
1526. Skelton, Magnyf., 1844. A knave and a carl, and all of one kynd.
1549. Compl. Scot., xvii. 146. Thai that var vicius & couuardis, var reput for vilainis ande carlis.
1597. 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass., V. i. 1479. Farewell, base carle clothed in a sattin sute.
1728. Thomson, Hymn to May (R.). I deem that carl, by beauty’s pow’r unmov’d Hated of heav’n.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xvii. ‘Ye donnard carle.’ Ibid. (1829), Demonol., iv. 123. Wrinkled carles and odious hags.
1882. Miss Fothergill, Kith & K., xiii. A rough-hewn, cross-grained carle like him.
b. spec. One who is churlish or mean in money matters; a grabber; a niggard. Now only Sc.
1542. Brinklow, Compl., ii. (1874), 9. Another rich covetos carl.
1564. Becon, Jewell of Joye, Wks. II. 15. Those riche carles and couetouse churles.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 53. None is so much the thieues mark as the myser and the Carle.
1597–8. Bp. Hall, Sat., II. iv. 34. The liberal man should liue, and carle should die.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 354. I will not say, as a Carle lately did, of great wealth, I shall dye a beggar.
1730–6. Bailey, s.v., An old Carle, an old doting, covetous hunks, a surly niggard.
1753. Richardson, Grandison (1781), II. xxxvi. 341. Mercantile carle.
1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1843), 90.
| He was a carle in his day, | |
| And siccar bargains he could mak. |
3. Without any specific reference to rank or manners, but usually including the notion of sturdiness or strength, and sometimes of roughness; = Fellow. Sc. [Cf. 1375–86 in 1.]
a. 1550. Christis Kirke Gr., xxi. The carlis with clubbis coud udir quell.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. xxxi. 74/1. If he be a lusty Carle, he is wont after some months labor, to make his way through.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 84. The night was cauld, the carle was wat.
1794. Burns, The Carles of Dysart. Up wi’ the carles o’ Dysart, And the lads o’ Buckhaven.
1798. Wordsw., P. Bell, I. xvii. He was a carl as wild and rude As ever hue-and-cry pursued.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, vii. The town hold me a hot-headed carle.
1857. J. Wilson, Chr. North, I. 156. A rosy-cheeked carle, upwards of six feet high.
1858. M. Porteous, Souter Johnny, 7. A blither cantier carl.
b. Sc. To play carl again: ‘to return a stroke, to give as much as one receives’ (Jamieson).
1862. in Hislop, Prov. Scotl., 161. Play carle wi’ me again.
4. = CARL HEMP, q.v.
5. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib. or in apposition: That is or acts as a carl; knavish.
c. 1450. Erle of Tolous, 1081. Thou carle monke, wyth all thy gynne … Hur sorowe schalt thou not cees.
1593. Peele, Order Garter, C iij b. The Carle Obliuion stolne from Læthes lake.
b. In sense of ‘male,’ as carl cat, carl crab; carl doddie, a flowering stalk of ribgrass, scabious, etc. (cf. curl doddy); also CARL HEMP, CARMAN2.
(The asserted occurrence of carl-catt, carl-fuʓol, etc., in OE. appears to be an error: they have not been found by us even in ME.)
c. 1605. Montgomerie, Flyting, 670. Carle cats weepe vinegar with their eine.
1691. Ray, N. C. Wds. (E. D. S.), Carl-cat, a boar or he-cat.
1803. Sir R. Sibbald, Fife, 132 (Jam.). The common sea-crab … the male they call the Carle crab.
1868. G. Macdonald, R. Falconer, I. 65. ‘He kneipit their heids thegither, as gin they hed been twa carldoddies.’
