Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To flow with a murmuring sound; purl.
  • noun A child's whirligig.
  • noun A small stream of water.
  • To pierce.
  • noun Same as brill.
  • To turn sour.
  • To get tipsy.
  • noun A small bit or quantity.
  • noun In mining, the better parts of ore from which inferior pieces have been separated; a nugget of virgin metal.
  • noun A button or globule of metal obtained by assaying a specimen of ore in the cupel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) The brill.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To flow.
  • noun obsolete A stream.
  • noun A nugget of virgin metal.
  • noun Ore selected for excellence.
  • noun The button of metal from an assay.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb to flow, spurt
  • noun a rill, a small stream
  • noun obsolete a spinning top
  • noun a pellet, a granule, a small bead
  • noun rich copper ore remaining after removal of low-grade material; a droplet of copper suspended in molten slag
  • noun mining A nugget of virgin metal.
  • noun The button of metal from an assay.
  • verb to produce pellets by forming a molten substance into droplets which solidify while falling

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A variant of purl, 17th century.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin unknown. OED mentions Cornish pryl "sheep-droppings" as a likely loan from English.

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Examples

  • But in certain cases, more especially where large amounts of metallic oxides are present, the slag is not so clean, and with these the slag should be powdered, mixed with 40 grams of litharge and 4 of flour, and melted again; it is an advantage to add a small prill of say 2 or 3 milligrams of silver to the charge, as it insures a visible product in the cupellation.

    A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. Cornelius Beringer 1886

  • For example, suppose a prill has been obtained which measures 12.5 divisions of the scale, and that a standard prill weighing 0.1 milligram measures

    A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. Cornelius Beringer 1886

  • The weight of the button is arrived at by comparing with the mean diameter of a _standard prill_ of gold of known weight.

    A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. Cornelius Beringer 1886

  • Masterbatches are compatible with the main plastic and are supplied in either granule or prill form.

    xml's Blinklist.com 2008

  • Ay, but the citizens favour Lucius, prill revolt from me to fuccour him.

    Works 1795

  • He tooke his joumy abowte the beginnynge of A prill, and was sente from our King as Ambassador extraordinary vnto the Emperor, abowte the restitution of the Pallatinate, as it was sayd, but in vayne.

    Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society 1792

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