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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.

TIRL, v.¹ Also tirle. [tɪrl]

1. tr. (1) To pull or strip off (a covering in gen., clothes, bedding, thatch, etc.) (Sh., Cai., Slg., Bnff., Wgt., Rxb. 1972). Also in n.Eng. dial. Also with aff (Bwk. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 341).Sc. 1709 R. Wodrow Analecta (M.C.) I. 153:
The devil tirle the skinn off you, and make a winnock to hell of it!Dmf. 1814 R. Cromek Remains 29:
When the wind blaws loud and tirls our strae.Sc. 1820 Scots Mag. (May) 424:
He went one summer evening to the Clyde, tirlit aff his claes, as the country narrators express it.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals iii.:
Blowing in this manner, it tirled the thack from the rigging of the manse stable.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1874) 557:
He was tied to a tree, and his shirt tirled over his head.Sc. 1897 L. Keith Bonnie Lady 126:
Tirling my ilka-day claes and busking myself in my best.Uls. 1900 T. Given Poems 141:
A gust that tirrl't his wig.

(2) To take the covering off (a person or thing) (Bwk., Rxb. 1972), to strip off one's clothes; to unroof (a building) (Rnf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 42; Fif., Lth. 1926 Wilson Cent. Scot. 271; Rxb. 1942 Zai; Bwk., Rxb. 1972).Gall. 1708 Session Bk. Minnigaff (1939) 253:
When he had tirled her mothernaked threw her shirt over the window.Lnk. 1714 H. Davidson Lanark (1910) 163:
To be taken by the hand of the hangman from the Tolbooth, tirled bare, to the West Port to be scourged at the usual places.Ayr. 1787 Burns Address Beelzebub 35–6:
They lay aside a' tender mercies, An' tirl the hullions to the birses.Sc. 1816 Scott O. Mortality xxiii.:
Our folk had tirled the dead dragoons as bare as bawbees.Gall. 1843 J. Nicholson Tales 30:
Now tirling kirks, and country cots.Per. 1897 D. MacTavish Witch of Monzie 3:
Tirlin' beeskeps an' witchin' kye.e.Lth. 1905 J. Lumsden Croonings 209:
Kirk? Kick-shaws! tubs o' truth an' trash! We'se tirl them a' — wi' little fash.

(3) To take the surface off a piece of ground, gen. as a preliminary to quarrying or peat-cutting (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Dmf. 1925 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. XIII. 42; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein). Vbl.n. tirling.Peb. 1802 C. Findlater Agric. Peb. 208:
After removing the surface soil with the roots of the heath or ling growing on it (called the tirling of the moss).Sc. 1816 Scott Antiquary xxiii.:
If your honours are thinking of tirling the floor.

¶(4) To unstop (the ears). Liter.Sc. 1879 P. H. Waddell Isaiah xxxv. 5:
Syne sal the een o' the blin' be unsteekit, an' the lugs o' the doven be tirl'd wide eneugh.

2. intr. and refl. To undress oneself (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Slk. 1958).