Standard Lemma guide

birle

verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • CMU ARPABET: B ER1 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

verb

Meaning 1

To pour a drink (for).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, obsolete

Examples

  • c.1882-1898, Francis James Child (collector and editor), Child's Ballads, Number 68: "Young Hunting", She has birld in him Young Hunting / The good ale and the beer, / Till he was as fou drunken / As any wild-wood steer.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To drink deeply or excessively; carouse.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Scotland, obsolete

Examples

  • c.1882-1898, Francis James Child (collector and editor), Child's Ballads, Number 73: "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet", They birled, they birled at Annies wake / The white bread and the wine, / And ere the morn at that same time / At his they birled the same.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

cause a floating log to rotate by treading

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: birl

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: rotate, circumvolve

History

Etymology

From Middle English birlen, from Old English byrelian (“to give or serve a drink to”), from byrele (“cupbearer, steward, butler”), from Proto-Germanic *burilijaz (“carrier, manservant”), from *burjô (“descendant, son”), from *beraną (“to bear, carry”). Related to Old English byre (“son, offspring, youth”). More at bear.