churl

From Middle English churl, cherl, cheorl (“person not of the nobility or clergy; bondsman, serf, villein; peasant; (also figuratively) servant, slave; unlearned or unrefined person, boor, ignoramus; chap, fellow, man; husband”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English ċeorl (“freeman ranking below a þegn but above a thrall; commoner, peasant; countryman, husbandman; man; husband”), from Proto-West Germanic *kerl, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“elder; man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to grow old; to mature”).[2] Doublet of carl, carle.

Sense 2.1 (“rough, surly, ill-bred person”) is probably an extension of sense 1 (“free peasant of the lowest rank; person without royal or noble status; bondman, serf”) and sense 2.2 (“countryman, peasant, rustic”). Sense 2.3 (“person who is stingy”) was influenced by Nabal, who is described in the King James Version of the Bible as “churlish and evil in his doings”;[3] when Nabal, a rich man, is asked to give provisions to David’s men, he replies, “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?” (1 Samuel 25:3 and 10–11; spelling modernized).[2][4]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tʃɜːl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɝl/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l

churl (plural churls)

1. (feudalism, obsolete except historical)
   1. A free peasant (as opposed to a serf) of the lowest rank, below an earl and a thane; a freeman; also (more generally), a person without royal or noble status; a commoner.
      • 1612, [Miguel de Cervantes]; Thomas Shelton, transl., “Wherein is Rehearsed the Vnfortunate Aduenture Hapned to Don-Quixote, by Encountring with Certaine Yanguesian Carriers”, in The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] William Stansby, for Ed[ward] Blount and W. Barret, OCLC 84747867, part 3, page 116:

        [F]rom this time forvvard I do pardon before God all the vvrongs that they haue done, or ſhall doe vnto me, vvhether they vvere, be, or ſhall be done by high or lovv perſon, rich or poore, Gentleman or Churle, vvithout excepting any ſtate or condition.

   2. A bondman or serf.
2. (by extension)
   1. (derogatory) A rough, surly, ill-bred person; a boor. [from 14th c.]
      • c. 1580 (date written)​, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “[The Second Booke] Chapter 19”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, OCLC 801077108; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912, OCLC 318419127, page 275:

        [A] churles curtesie rathely comes but either for gaine, or falshood.

      • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], OCLC 228725984; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, OCLC 5190338, pages 106–107:

        Thus ſay the common People that knovv him, A Saint abroad, and a Devil at home: His poor Family finds it ſo, he is ſuch a churl, ſuch a railer at, and ſo unreaſonable vvith his Servants, that they neither knovv hovv to do for, or ſpeak to him.

      • 1821, Lord Byron, “Sardanapalus”, in Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery, London: John Murray, […], OCLC 317087118, Act I, scene ii, page 10:

        Since it must be so, and this churl has check'd / Thy gentle spirit, go; […]

      • 1841, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay IV. Spiritual Laws.”, in Essays, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, OCLC 3778020, pages 120–121:

        There are graces in the demeanor of a polished and noble person, which are lost upon the eye of a churl.

      • 1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter IV, in Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 1204533024, book V, page 54:

        "Unmannerly churl!" exclaimed Sybil starting in her chair, her eye flashing lightning, her distended nostril quivering with scorn. "Oh! yes, I am a churl," said Morley; "I know I am a churl. Were I a noble the daughter of the people would perhaps condescend to treat me with less contempt."

        Sybil uses churl in the current sense; Morley uses the word in sense 1.1.

   2. (archaic) A countryman, a peasant, a rustic.

      Synonym: carl

      • 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 3944791, part the second, page 11:

        And, as the mazy web she whirls, / She sees the surly village-churls, / And the red cloaks of market-girls, / Pass onward from Shalott.

      • 1859, George Meredith, “A Fine Distinction”, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, OCLC 213819910, page 179:

        “A see T’m Baak’ll,” the Bantam recommenced, and again the contortions of a horrible wink were directed at Richard. The boy might well believe this churl was lying, and he did, and was emboldened to exclaim, “You never saw Tom Bakewell set fire to that rick!”

      • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Adirondacs. A Journal. Dedicated to My Fellow-travellers in August, 1858.”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, OCLC 1184564533, pages 48–49:

        Look to yourselves, ye polished gentlemen! / No city airs or arts pass current here. / Your rank is all reversed: let men of cloth / Bow to the stalwart churls in overalls: / They are the doctors of the wilderness, / And we the low-priced laymen.

   3. (archaic) A person who is stingy, especially with money; a selfish miser, a niggard.

      Synonym: (Scotland, obsolete) carl

      • c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: […] Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, OCLC 222309388, [Act V, scene iii]:

        ''Juli''[''et'']. […] VVhats heere? a cup in my true loues hand? / Poiſon I ſee hath bin his timeleſſe end: / O churle [referring to Romeo], drunke all, and left no friendly drop.

      • 1605, Michael Drayton, “The Legend of Matilda”, in Poems: […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Iohn Smethwicke, […], published 1613, OCLC 79632854:

        VVrong not thy faire youth, nor the vvorld depriue / Of that great riches Nature freely lent, / Pitie 'tvvere they by niggardize ſhould thriue. / VVhoſe vvealth by vvaxing craueth to be ſpent, / For vvhich thou after iuſtly ſhall be ſhent; / Like to ſome rich churle burying his pelfe, / Both to vvrong others, and to ſterue himſelfe.

      • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 1”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […]‎, London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, OCLC 216596634:

        VVithin thine ovvne bud burieſt thy content, / And tender chorle makſt waſt in niggarding: […]

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Isaiah 32:5, column 2:

        The vile perſon ſhall be no more called liberall, nor the churle ſayd to be bountifull.

      • 1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], “Calais”, in A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume I, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], OCLC 61680753, page 26:

        [W]hen a few words will reſcue miſery out of her diſtreſs, I hate the man who can be a churl of them.

   4. (Theodism) A freedman, ranked below a thane but above a thrall.

• churlish
• churlishly
• churlishness
• churly

• churl on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• lurch