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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

thirl.

A hole, an aperture, especially a nostril.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/θɝl/General-American/θɜːl/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A hole, an aperture, especially a nostril.

  2. A low door in a dry-stone wall to allow sheep to pass through; a smoot.

    dialectal
  3. A short communication between adits in a mine.

    obsolete
  4. A long adit in a coalpit.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English thirl, thiril, from Old English þyrel (“hole”), from Proto-West Germanic *þurhil, from Proto-Germanic *þurhilą (“hole, opening”), from Proto-Indo-European *tr̥h₂kʷelo- which is *tr̥h₂kʷe + *-lo, from *terh₂-. Related to thrill, drill. By surface analysis, through + -le.

verb/θɝl/General-American/θɜːl/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To pierce; to perforate, penetrate, cut through.

    transitive
  2. To drill or bore; to cut through, as a partition between one working and another.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English thirlen, thurlen, thorlen, from Old English þȳrlian (“to pierce”), from the noun (see above). Doublet of thrill.

verb/θɝl/General-American/θɜːl/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To throw (a projectile).

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. Perhaps a blend of throw + hurl.

verb/θɝl/General-American/θɜːl/Received-Pronunciation
  1. To legally bind (a tenant) to the use of one's own property as an owner.

    historical · transitive
  2. To bind; to obligate to use or be associated with.

    broadly
Where this word comes from

Dialectal alteration of thrall.

noun/θɝl/General-American/θɜːl/Received-Pronunciation
  1. A thrall.

    historical
Where this word comes from

Dialectal alteration of thrall.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.