carl

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See also: Carl

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English carl, from Old English carl, a borrowing from Old Norse karl (man, husband), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz. Doublet of churl.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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carl (plural carls)

  1. A rude, rustic man; a churl.
    Synonyms: hick, hob; see also Thesaurus:country bumpkin
    • 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:
      In Lent noblemen and carls alike had got into the traces and pulled the carts of stone themselves.
  2. (Scotland, obsolete) A stingy person; a niggard.
    Synonyms: skinflint, tightwad; see also Thesaurus:miser
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Etymology 2

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Uncertain.

Alternative forms

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Verb

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carl (third-person singular simple present carls, present participle carling, simple past and past participle carled)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To snarl; to talk grumpily or gruffly.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: [] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
      , New York 2001, p.210:
      [] full of ache, sorrow, and grief, children again, dizzards, they carle many times as they sit, and talk to themselves, they are angry, waspish, displeased with everything []

See also

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Anagrams

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Old English

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Etymology

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From Old Norse karl (Danish karl (man), Swedish karl (man)), from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (man, male). Cognate with Old High German karl, karal and related to Old English ċeorl.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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carl m

  1. a freeman, a man of middle rank or social class (in Norse and Anglo-Saxon society)
  2. (by extension) a man
  3. (by extension, in compounds) a male
    carlcatthe-cat, a male cat
    carlfugola male bird, cock

Derived terms

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