Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1818-1860, 1925
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‡TORFLE, v., n. Also torfel, toorfel; †torchel. [torfl]
I. v. 1. To come to grief or death, through disease or accident, esp. in a storm, to pine away, perish, be lost (s.Sc. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry Gl., torfel, torchel; Rxb. 1808 Jam., 1923 Watson W.-B.). Ppl.adjs. torflin, somewhat ailing, in indifferent health (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 319), phr. in a torflin way, id., so so (Id.); torfelled, undone, lost.Slk. 1823 Hogg Shep. Cal. (1874) ii.:
Better be feared in time, than torfelled for ever. Better conquer your bad humour for aince, than be conquessed for it through sae many ages.Rxb. c.1860 in Watson W.-B.:
I'se raad he'll toorfel.
†2. To draw back from a design or purpose (Rxb. 1825 Jam.), to lose one's ardour or enthusiasm.Slk. 1820 Hogg Winter Ev. Tales II. 41:
I fleechyt Eleesabett noore to lat us torfell in the waretyme of owir raik.
‡3. tr. and intr. To toss or tumble about (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Ppl.adj. torfelled, -fellt, of the hair: blown about, dishevelled.Slk. 1818 Hogg Wool-gatherer (1874) 72:
A naked woman torfelling on the Alemoor loch, wi' her hands tied behind her back, and a heavy stane at her neck.Rxb. 1847 H. S. Riddell Poems 40:
Their ringlets fluttered round their lily necks, As if they had, by the effects, Been torfelled wi' the weather.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 21:
Hair aa torfellt an toozellt.
II. n. The state of being unwell, a declining state of health (Rxb. 1825 Jam.).
[In the senses of I. also in n.Eng. dial. North. Mid.Eng. torfie, to fall into a decline, founder. Orig. uncertain, but poss. a variant with extension of meaning of North. Mid.Eng. torfer, hardship, harm, injury, O.N. torfǽra, a difficult journey or passage, torfǽrr, difficult to pass through, from tor-, hard, difficult, + fara, to go, proceed. The form torfer is also found in n.Eng. dial.]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Torfle v., n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 6 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/torfle>
