gnarled
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English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
First attested Shakespeare 1603:[1]
- Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt Splits the vn-wedgable [unwedgable] and gnarled Oke [oak].
- Measure for Measure, Act II, scene ii, line 116
Variant of knurled,[2][3] from knurl. By surface analysis, gnarl + -ed, though gnarl is a later back-formation. Popular use by 19th century.[2]
Adjective[edit]
gnarled (comparative more gnarled, superlative most gnarled)
- Knotty and misshapen.
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter I, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, →OCLC:
- Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
- Made rough by age or hard work.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
knotty and misshapen
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Verb[edit]
gnarled
- simple past and past participle of gnarl (Etymology 1)
Etymology 2[edit]
See gnarl (Etymology 2).
Verb[edit]
gnarled
- simple past and past participle of gnarl (Etymology 2)