[A reduplicated extension of CURLY; perhaps with some reference in the second part to whirl, in Sc. whurl.] A fantastically curled ornament.
a. 1772. Wilkie, in Lockhart, Scott, I. I thought the beauty of architecture consisted in curlie wurlies, but now I find it consists in symmetry and proportion.
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xix. Ah! it’s a brave kirk—nane o’ yere whigmaleeries and curliwurlies and open-steek hems about it.
1883. R. Riordan, in Century Mag., Sept., 722/2. Its leaves are slit in half and provided with æsthetical curly-wurlies.
