Forms: 1 æl, eal, awul, awel, 1–4 al, 2 owul, 3 eawl, eaule, owel, ouel, el, 3–5 oule, alle, 3–7 aule, 4 ele, 6 awle, 6–7 all, 8 aul, 8– awl; also 5 nal, 6 nalle, 6–7 nall, 7 naul, nawl(e. [OE. æl, cognate with OHG. ala, MHG. ale, mod.G. ahle, ON. alr (cf. Skr. árá). The length of the vowel in the old Germanic languages is uncertain; and there is some doubt as to its being originally a Teutonic word. The OE. variants awul, awel, etc., have not been accounted for. In 15–17th c. a mistaken division of an awl as a nawl gave the form with initial n.]
1. A small tool, having a slender, cylindrical, tapering, sharp-pointed blade, with which holes may be pierced; a piercer, pricker, bodkin.
c. 885. Laws of Ælfred, 11 (Bosw.). Þurhþyrliʓe his eáre mid eale.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Lev. xxv. 10. Þirliʓe his eáre mid ale. Ibid., Gloss., 316. Fascinula, awul.
c. 1220. Leg. St. Kath., 2206. Tuhen hire tittes up of hire breoste … wið eawles of irne.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 80. Thi bile is … scharp and hoked, Riȝt so an owel that is croked.
1382. Wyclif, Ex. xxi. 6. He shal thril his eer with an alle [1388 a nal, an al; Coverdale, botkin; Genev. awle; 1611 aule].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 22. With fleischhok or oules To ben yclawed.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 127/2. It is harde to the to stryue ayenst the alle or prycke.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 144. The worm … must be pulled out by some naul or needle.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, II. vi. 145. To bore little holes with a fine awl.
1865. Lubbock, Preh. Times, xv. (1869), 537. Awls and sinews would in our hands be but poor substitutes for needles and thread.
2. esp. The tool of this description used by shoemakers for piercing holes in leather. Cf. also BRADAWL (used by carpenters).
c. 1000. Colloq. Monast., 30 (Bosw.). Hwanon sceó-wyrhtan æl?
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 324. A sutare [þet haueð forloren] his el.
1340. Ayenb., 66. More boryinde þanne zouteres eles.
1564. Becon, Early Wks., Gen. Pref. (1843), 5. The shoemaker [giveth over] his nalle and thread.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 331. Their horns be like a shoomakers Nall blade.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. i. 25. Truly sir, all that I liue by, is with the Aule.
1853. Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.), 639. Seated on his stool, with his awl in his hand, ready to begin work.
b. fig. and proverb. applied to the occupation of a shoemaker. Cf. last.
1632. B. Jonson, in Brome’s North. Lasse, Introd. 9. The Cobler kept him to his nall.
1826. Scott, Woodst., viii. 205. Doubt not that thou shalt be set beyond thine awl.
c. To pack up one’s awls: cf. ALL B 1 b. (It is possible that the phrase originated with this word, or in a pun on all and awl.)
1674. Cotton, Voy. Irel., III. 10. I then call to pay, And packing my nawls, whipt to horse, and away.
3. transf. A sharp spine, or boring organ.
1340. Ayenb., 66. Þe þornhog þet ys al ywryȝe myd prikyinde eles.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xix. § 2. The awl or borer, fixed at the tails of various species of flies.
† 4. ? A dagger. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc., 48. Þorȝ out y mengd with swerdes and with mace, Myd axe and mid aules.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls IV. 209. I-slawe with alles [capulis] of comune … brawlers.
5. Comb. awl-bird, provincial name of the Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis); awl-shaped a., subulate; awl-wort, a plant (Subularia aquatica) so named from its leaves.
1802. G. Montagu, Ornith. Dict. (1833), 385. Awl Bird.
1762. Ellis, in Phil. Trans., LII. 664. The female has a remarkable … awl shaped papilla.
1880. Gray, Bot. Text-Bk., 398. Awl-shaped, narrow, terete or somewhat so, and attenuate from a broader base to a slender or rigid point.
1797. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Subularia, Awl-wort.
