carl

See also Carl

English

Etymology 1

Old English carl, from Old Norse karl (“man, husband”)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɑːl/

Noun

carl (plural carls)

1. A rude, rustic man; a churl.
   • 1974, In Lent noblemen and carls alike had got into the traces and pulled the carts of stone themselves. — Guy Davenport, Tatlin!

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain.

Alternative forms

• carle

Verb

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

1. (obsolete) To snarl; to talk grumpily or gruffly.
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, 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 [...].

Anagrams

• ACLR

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Old English

Etymology

Old Norse karl (Swedish karl (“man”)), from Proto-Germanic *karlaz. Cognate with Old High German karl, karal and related to Old English ċeorl.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /karl/

Noun

carl m

1. a freeman, a man of middle rank or social class (in Norse and Anglo-Saxon society)