Sc. Also 6 tyrle. [Origin uncertain: app. not connected with any sense of TRILL; but cf. THRILL v.1 6.]

1

  † 1.  intr. To pluck at; esp. to pluck at the strings of a harp, or the like, so as to cause them to sound. Obs.

2

c. 1470.  Henryson, Mor. Fab., VII. (Lion & Mouse), xiv. Sum [of the mice] tirlit at the campis of his [the lion’s] beird, Sum sparit not to claw him on the face.

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1567.  Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 93. Tak harpe in hand … Tyrle on the ten stringit Instrument.

4

  2.  trans. To pluck (a tense string, etc.) so as to cause vibration.

5

1882.  Jamieson, s.v., (Clydesdale) He tirled the strings.

6

1894.  R. Reid, in Poets Dumfries., x. (1910), 305. That queer wild cry frae the gurly sky Can tirl my heart-strings still.

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