birl
/bɜːl//bɝl/
birl verb: to spin. Also the alternative form of birle.
Verb
birl (third-person singular simple present birls, present participle birling, simple past and past participle birled)
- To spin.
- About nine in the morning, in a burst of wintry sun between two squalls of hail, I had my first look of Holland - a line of windmills birling in the breeze.1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter XXII, in Catriona, Helvoetsluys
- "I'll maybe no trouble you long, boys," he moaned lugubriously. "My heid's birling roond that fast that I canna even mind my own name two meenutes."1906, Neil Munro, The Vital Spark, reprinted in 1958, Para Handy Tales
- To cause (a floating log) to rotate by treading on it.
- "That's nothing!" my companion repressed me, "anybody can birl a log. Watch this."
Roaring Dick for the first time unfolded his arms. With some appearance of caution he balanced his unstable footing into absolute immobility. Then he turned a somersault.1903 April, Stewart Edward White, “The Riverman”, in McClure's Magazine, volume 20
- "That's nothing!" my companion repressed me, "anybody can birl a log. Watch this."
- To throw down a coin as one's share in a joint contribution.
Noun (1)
birl (plural birls)
- A type of grace note movement that quickly switches between low-A and low-G several times, producing a low rippling sound.
Noun (2)
birl (plural birls)
- A girl of boyish appearance.
- Affirmation of the desirability of birls is a key element throughout this online site even when complex issues of gender and sexual positioning are being worked through.2007, Susan Driver, Queer Girls and Popular Culture: Reading, Resisting, and Creating Media
- The birls forum describes itself as "a community dedicated to boyish/androgynous girls" with open borders such that "all people who don't define themselves as birls are welcome as well, including femmes, bioboys, androgynes, and transguys ... or you could just make up your own label for who you...2013, David Buckingham, Rebekah Willett, Digital Generations: Children, Young People, and the New Media
Also used as
birl is also the alternative form of birle.
Forms of birl
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | birls |
| present participle | birling |
| past participle | birled |
| past | birled |
| Noun | |
| plural | birls |
Origin of birl
Inherited from Middle English birlen.
See birle.
Blend of boy + girl.
Words that rhyme with birl
Questions about birl
- What does birl mean?
- Birl means to spin.
- What part of speech is birl?
- Birl can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce birl?
- Birl is pronounced /bɝl/ (US).
- What is the past tense of birl?
- The past tense of birl is birled.
Words near birl in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: birl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-birl.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-birl.wav.
Cite this entry: “birl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/birl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.