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wurly. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
wurly, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
wurly in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Adjective
wurly (comparative wurlier or more wurly, superlative wurliest or most wurly)
- (Northern England (Yorkshire), Scotland) Of an object: derisorily small, tiny; of a person: puny, stunted.
, volume II (K–Z) (in Scots), Edinburgh:
University Press; for
W & C Tait,
; London:
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green,
→OCLC,
page 700, column 2:
Wurlie, 1. Contemptibly puny, or small in size; as "a wurlie bodie," an ill-grown person, Fife, Loth.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)]
1856, James Ballantine, “The Wee Raggit Laddie”, in , editors, Whistle-binkie or The Piper of the Party: Being a Collection of Songs for the Social Circle, new edition, Glasgow: David Robertson & Co., published 1873, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 158:Thy wee roun' pate sae black and curly, / Thy twa bare feet, sae stoure an' burly, / The biting frost, though snell an' surly / An' sair to bide, / Is scouted by thee, thou hardy wurly, / Wi' sturdy pride.
, volumes VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Henry Frowde,
, publisher to the
English Dialect Society,
; New York, N.Y.:
G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
→OCLC,
page 515, column 1:
WIRL, sb. Sc. Yks. […] A small and harsh-featured person; an ill-grown child; a stunted animal. […] Hence (1) Wirly, adj. puny, small; (2) Wirly-bit, sb. a short time; a little way; a small portion. (1) Sc. There's nae a pilchard in my creel, Nor wurlie sprat … They're firm and fat (Jam.).]
, volume II (K–Z), Edinburgh:
University Press; for
W & C Tait,
; London:
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green,
→OCLC,
page 700, column 2:
Wurlie, […] 2. Rough, knotted; as, "a wurlie rung," a knotted stick, S. It is applied to a stick that is distorted, Lanarks. As this sense, however, is considerably remote from the other, the term may have had a different origin. 3. Wrinkled, applied to a person; as, a wurly body, Lanarks.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)]
Synonyms
Etymology 2
Variant of wurley.
Noun
wurly (plural wurlies)
- (chiefly South Australia) Alternative spelling of wurley.
1862 February 1, “The Burke and Wills Australian Exploring Expedition”, in The Illustrated London News, volume XL, number 1129, London: Printed & published by George C. Leighton, 198 Strand, →OCLC, page 128, column 3:Poor [William John] Wills's remains we found lying in the wurly in which he died, and where King, after his return from seeking the natives, had buried him with sand and rushes.
1875, Robert Bruce, “The Black Boys’ Ride: A True Story”, in The Dingoes and Other Tales, Adelaide, S.A.: Printed at "Advertiser" and "Chronicle" offices, →OCLC, stanza 10, page 74:And so those boys with stealthy pace / Returned the saddles to their place; / Then to their wurly quickly hied, / No doubt delighted with their ride.
2012, Maggie Meyer, Joan Small, “Monsters of the Cretaceous”, in Big Foot Adventures Down Under (Spirits Alive Series; 1), : Xlibris, →ISBN, page 164:Before night fell, they made themselves a shelter like a wurly by collecting large Wollemi pine fronds from the forest floor, leaning them against each other to make a peaked hut and joining them together with vines. It would offer some protection while they slept.