Now dial. Forms: 1 þyrel, -il, þyrl, 3 þirl, þurl, 4 therl, 9 thurl, 4– thirl. See also THRILL sb.1 [OE. þýrel, for older *þyrhil, *þurh-il, f. þurh THOROUGH + -EL1. Cf. OHG. dur(i)hhil, MHG. dürchel, dürkel, OE. þýrel adjs., pierced, perforated.]
1. A hole, bore, perforation; an aperture.
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. iii. (1890), 272. Þonne is on þæm medmicel þyrel ʓeworht.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xix. 24. Ðerh ðyril nedles.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 113/29. Orificium, ælces kynnes muð vel ðyrl.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 292. He … þet lette makien swuche þurles in him uorte huden us inne.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 528. Mans hefd has thirls seuen.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. x. 59. A thyrll or aynding stede Of terribyle Pluto.
a. 1640. Jackson, Creed, XI. xxxviii. § 10. They could not peck the least hole in the mitre, or make the least thirl in the surplice, without working [etc.].
1866. Brogden, Provinc. Wds. Lincoln., s.v., Fetch a nail passer and make a thirl through this board.
b. Each of the two holes or orifices of the nose; a nostril: see NOSE-THIRL.
a. 1350. St. Barthol., 89, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 120. His nese es euyn, with thirles small.
1382. Wyclif, Job xli. 11. Of his nose therlis goth forth smoke.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. Prol. 29. The flambe owtbrastyng at his neys thyrlys.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 222 b. With her wyde mouth and nose thirlles.
1828. Craven Gloss., Thirl, the orifice of the nose; nose-thirl, alias nostril.
2. An aperture or opening in a wall or the like; e.g., a door or window in a house (obs.), a sheep-hole in a wall, etc. Also fig.
a. 1050. Liber Scintill., xxxviii. 140. Hwæt framað þæt onʓean feonda searwa eal ceaster byþ ʓehealden ʓif an þyrl open byð forlæten.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 62. Þe kerneaus of þe castel beoð hire huses þurles. Ibid., 96. Ȝif eni … worpe his hond forð touward þe þurl cloð, swiftliche anonriht, schutteð al þet þurl [MS. T. windohe] to, & letteð hine iwurden.
1340. Ayenb., 204. Huerby þe dieuel geþ in ofte ine þe vif þerles of þe house.
14[?]. MS. Lincoln A. i. 17. lf. 241 (Halliw.). If … alle the thirlles, dores and wyndows ware stokyne that na sone myght enter.
1794. W. Hutchinson, Hist. Cumbld., I. 64. Thirl … of common acceptation in the north, for an opening left in moor fences, for sheep to pass to and from the commons adjacent to inclosed grounds.
1904. Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v. (n. Yorks.), A lot o’ sheep … wantin’ to go threw a thirl at yance.
† 3. A small cavity or recess; in quot. a closet.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter civ. [cv.] 30. He forth-broght froskes þe land of þa, In thirles [L. in cubilibus] of þar kinges ma.
4. See quots. and cf. THIRLING vbl. sb.1 2.
1847–78. Halliwell, Thurl, a long adit in a coal-pit.
1871. Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engin., I. 304. These would be thurled (cross-cut) at every forty or sixty feet, or at such a distance as the air could be induced to pass the last thurl made.
1899. Prevost, Cumbld. Gloss., Thirls, openings made between a pair of exploring places or drifts, for the purpose of ventilation.
5. = THRILL sb.3 1.
1879. J. White, Jottings, 226 (E. D. D.). Yer sang … gied me a thirl.
1897. W. Beatty, Secretar, xlii. 343. ‘I kend that,’ she said with a thirl of gladness in the words.
