wurlie

English

Etymology 1

Adjective

wurlie (comparative wurlier or more wurlie, superlative wurliest or most wurlie)

(Scotland) Alternative spelling of wurly.
- [1825, John Jamieson, “Wurlie”, in Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: Illustrating the Words in Their Different Significations, by Examples from Ancient and Modern Writers; Shewing Their Affinity to Those of Other Languages, and Especially the Northern; Explaining Many Terms, which, though Now Obsolete in England, were Formerly Common to Both Countries; and Elucidating National Rites, Customs, and Institutions, in Their Analogy to Those of Other Nations. [...] In Two Volumes, volume II (K–Z), Edinburgh: Printed at the University Press; for W[illiam] & C[harles] Tait, 78, Prince's Street; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, OCLC 863495133, page 700, column 2:
  Wurlie, 1. Contemptibly puny, or small in size; as "a wurlie bodie," an ill-grown person, Fife, Loth.]
- [1905, “WIRL”, in Joseph Wright, editor, The English Dialect Dictionary: Being the Complete Vocabulary of All Dialect Words still in Use, or Known to Have Been in Use during the Last Two Hundred Years: Founded on the Publications of the English Dialect Society and on a Large Amount of Material Never before Printed, volume VI (T–Z, Supplement, Bibliography and Grammar), London: Published by Henry Frowde, Amen Corner, E.C., publisher to the English Dialect Society, Oxford, 116 High Street; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, OCLC 81937840, 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.).]
(Scotland) gnarled, knotted; wizened, wrinkled.
- [1825, John Jamieson, “Wurlie”, in Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: Illustrating the Words in Their Different Significations, by Examples from Ancient and Modern Writers; Shewing Their Affinity to Those of Other Languages, and Especially the Northern; Explaining Many Terms, which, though Now Obsolete in England, were Formerly Common to Both Countries; and Elucidating National Rites, Customs, and Institutions, in Their Analogy to Those of Other Nations. [...] In Two Volumes, volume II (K–Z), Edinburgh: Printed at the University Press; for W[illiam] & C[harles] Tait, 78, Prince's Street; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, OCLC 863495133, 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.]

Etymology 2

Noun

wurlie (plural wurlies)

Alternative spelling of wurley.
- 1846, E. Lloyd, “Biographical Sketch”, in A Visit to the Antipodes: With Some Reminiscences of a Sojourn in Australia, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill, OCLC 80380528, page 165:
  But latterly they came in good numbers, and commenced a nightly system of annoyance by dancing their corroberies: […]. Finding remonstrance of no avail, one evening, when they were all seated quietly at the wurlie [footnote: Encampment.], I fired a charge of small shot into the midst of them, and retired to the hut: in the morning they had all disappeared.

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