So 7–: also 6 corougle, 7 corracle, curricle, 8 coricle. [a. Welsh corwgl, cwrwgl, deriv. (? dim.) of corwg, cwrwg, in 13–14th c. coruc, corwc coracle, and carcase, = Ir. curach boat (appearing in Adamnanus 7th c., in latinized form curuca), mod.Gaelic curach.]
A small boat made of wickerwork covered with some water-tight material (originally hides or skins), used by the ancient Britons, and still by fishermen on the rivers and lakes of Wales and Ireland.
The coracle is described but not named in O. E. Chron., anno 891 ‘on anum bate butan ælcum ʓereþrum of Hibernia … se bat wæs ʓeworht of þriddan healfre hyde.’
1547. Salesbury, Welsh Dict., Kwrwgyl ne vola kroen, a corougle.
1611. Cotgr., Carabe, a corracle, or little round skiffe, made of Ozier twigs wouen together, and couered with raw hides.
1696. Aubrey, Misc. (1857), 211. The boats on the Avon … were baskets of twigs covered with an ox-skin, which the poor people in Wales use to this day, and call them curricles.
1759. B. Martin, Nat. Hist. Eng., II. Salop, 178. The Fishermen in these Parts have a pretty Device, to catch Fish … which is called a Coracle.
1805. Southey, Madoc in W., I. 13. On his back, Like a broad shield, the coracle was hung.
1873. Act 36–7 Vict., c. 71 § 36. Any boat, barge, coracle, or other vessel used in fishing.
b. attrib.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 13. Two Coracle Nets.
1891. Daily News, 5 Oct., 3/6. Dee Salmon Fisheries…. The coracle net men had caught 849 salmon.
