Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To drag upon the ground; drag along with force or violence; trail.
- To entangle; confuse.
- To cut a slit in one of the hind legs of (a dead animal), in order to suspend it.
- To rough-east (a wall) with lime.
- To be dragged or pulled.
- To trail; drag one's self.
- noun The act of dragging.
- noun Flax, hemp, wool, hair, or other filaments as drawn out or hackled.
- noun A barb of a feather from a peacock's tail, used as a hackle in dressing fly-hooks. Also herl, hurl.
- noun Property obtained by means not accounted honorable.
- noun A considerable but indefinite quantity.
- noun A leash (three) of hounds.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A filamentous substance; especially, the filaments of flax or hemp.
- noun A barb, or barbs, of a fine large feather, as of a peacock or ostrich, -- used in dressing artificial flies.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
fibre , especially a fibre ofhemp orflax , or an individual fibre of afeather - noun A
barb , or barbs, of a fine large feather, as of apeacock orostrich , used in dressing artificial flies.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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To "harl" is to drag slowly, and with imperfect success; a "harl" of anything expresses defect both in value and form.
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Here's one from a "harl" commenting on a post by Roy Hattersley on CiF.
Archive 2006-12-01 Garry 2006
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Here's one from a "harl" commenting on a post by Roy Hattersley on CiF.
The Suffering of Others Garry 2006
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Perhaps "harl" is a vegan or something but I think it's more likely that s/he's a rabid Islamophobe.
The Suffering of Others Garry 2006
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Perhaps "harl" is a vegan or something but I think it's more likely that s/he's a rabid Islamophobe.
Archive 2006-12-01 Garry 2006
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UPDATE: Thanks to Google's sorting algorithm, which is weighted toward newer content, this series is now the #1 return for "harl vincent".
Archive 2008-12-01 Johnny Pez 2008
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UPDATE 2: As of March 2009 Google's sorting algorithm has dropped this series down to the #4 return for "harl vincent".
Archive 2008-12-01 Johnny Pez 2008
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UPDATE 2: As of March 2009 Google's sorting algorithm has dropped this series down to the #4 return for "harl vincent".
A look at "Terrors Unseen" Johnny Pez 2008
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UPDATE: Thanks to Google's sorting algorithm, which is weighted toward newer content, this series is now the #1 return for "harl vincent".
A look at "Terrors Unseen" Johnny Pez 2008
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_ -- The Peacock Harl -- dubbed with ruddy peacock's harl, warped with green silk, and a red cock's hackle over that.
The Teesdale Angler R Lakeland
grant_barrett commented on the word harl
This word was chosen as Wordnik word of the day.
November 11, 2009
qms commented on the word harl
I am impressed that a word I have never before encountered has twelve distinct definitions. It is strange that I have never had occasion to use any of them. It is embarrassing to confess that I have never had to rough-east a wall, slit a dead beast’s hind leg to prepare it for hanging or walked my leash of three hounds. I must reform.
Sometimes senses are found all a-snarl,
Twisted together and bound in a gnarl.
As you tug them asunder
You can't help but wonder
How so many meanings wound up in harl.
May 24, 2014