thirl results

[Snibor Eoj]

And the winner is...  Jean-Joseph, barely eking ahead of Merriam-Webster!

I thought that the noun/verb forms sounded too contrived, but a lot of you 
saw right through that.  Guess I'll have to try to find something a little 
less dictionarious next time 'round.

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thirl - 1. (n.) The drizzle of sweat flung up from the legs of a horse
into the face of the coachman.  2. (n.) Hence, any indignity attendant
upon a humble occupation.
ELLIOTT - 7
Eric 2, Ranjit 2, Melissa 1 + 2 Correct Guess

Hutch: Too close to my fictionition, but there ought to be a word for it.
Certainly I take my share of this sort of thirl from my boss every day.
Jean-Joseph: David. Or maybe Ranjit.
Eric: Two points.  Lovely def, as I've experienced my share of thirl.
Melissa: David Randall, but so nice an etymology.  1 point.
Linda: Good progression.

thirl - (n.) A female impersonator by occupation but not by inclination.
RANJIT - 2
Elliott 1, Eric 1
Elliott: GIRL, perhaps with a soupcon of lisp.  One point for the vaguely
Samuel Johnsonesque wording.
Hutch: I know this guy *chuckle*
Jean-Joseph: David.  Or maybe Elliott.
Linda: Some people will do anything for a buck.
Pierre: Huh? A female who impersonates? Someone who impersonates females?
Why would anyone be this?
Will: I'm stupified.

thirl - (n.) The part of a sewing machine that brings the thread around
the lower bobbin.
PIERRE - 9
Hutch 1, David 1, Amy 1, Jean-Joseph 1, Fran 1, Linda 2 + 2 Correct Guess
Elliott: THREAD.  There is no "part" that brings the thread around.  It's
a physical impossibility and is accomplished by a powerful spell.
Hutch: Sewing machines, anyone? 1 point.
Jean-Joseph: I doubt it.  But it wins the coin toss over the finial: one
point.
Linda: There should be a word for this, and since I have hemmed pants on
my old machine lately, I award this 2 points.
Pierre: Needles to say...

thirl - (n.) A Medieval henchman
LINDA - 0
Elliott: CHURL.
Hutch: Also, too close to mine.
Jean-Joseph: Churl.

thirl - 1. (n.) A hole or perforation.  2. (v.) To pierce or perforate
MERRIAM-WEBSTER (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=thirl) - 13
Elliott 2, Aussie 2, Hutch 2, Judith 1, Jean-Joseph 2, Melissa 2, Pierre 2
Elliott: NOSTRIL (nose-thirl)?  And maybe THROUGH?  I can believe it.  
Two points!
Aussie: I like the hole - two points worth!
Hutch: The verbification of the noun (or was it nounification of a verb?)
is just too tempting to resist: 2 points.
Jean-Joseph: I like this.  Two points.
Linda: Probably it, but it does not grab me.  Or thirl me, luckily.

thirl - (n.) Use of two or more similarly patterned fabrics with some
significant difference in color or pattern size, in the same ensemble.
AUSSIE - 3
Linda 1 + 2 Correct Guess
Elliott: THREADs.  The word sounds too old to belong to an era when people
have a choice of patterns and colors.
Hutch: These certainly sound very like real dictionary definitions. But
they're boring: which means one of them is probably right. *sigh*
Jean-Joseph: I always get criticized for my poor fashion sense when I
inadvertently do something like this
Linda: Does Laura Ashley know about this?  1 point for pattern
coordination.

thirl - (n.) A teardrop-shaped metal channel, used to maintain a minimum
radius of curvature in a cable when forming a terminating eye.
JEAN-JOSEPH - 14
David 2, Amy 2, Judith 2, Fran 2, Ranjit 1, Kir 2, Pierre 1 + 2 Correct Guess
Elliott: THREAD.  Eric?  (For some reason, I always assume engineering
defs are Eric.)
Hutch: These certainly sound very like real dictionary definitions. But
they're boring: which means one of them is probably right. *sigh*
Amy: Two points - very nicely done if not real <grin>.
Jean-Joseph: You can buy these in any well-stocked hardware store, but
they're actually called thimbles.
Linda: Trying to blind me with science again.
Will: Ooh, this sounds good.

thirl - (n.) The sound of a bagpipe or similar instrument.
JUDITH - 1
1 Correct Guess
Elliott: SKIRL.  I might have believed it if it had said "pennywhistle".
Hutch: I'm almost positive this is "skirl".
Jean-Joseph: These are the same definition, right?
Ranjit: Um, skirl, right?
Melissa: Skirl.  Or ayeegareegronk, if you read Frank & Ernest.
Linda: Wouldn't that be a nasal whine with a drone? Or is that too trite?
Pierre: Skirl?

thirl - (v.) To snore lightly with a musical note.
FRAN - 0
Elliott: SKIRL, and probably CHURL too -- aren't they always snoring
soundly after a revel?
Hutch: And this sounds too much like the "skirl" definition.
Jean-Joseph: These are the same definition, right?
Ranjit: Also skirl, then?
Linda: Like a cartoonish spurl?  Linda No, that is the sign of
unconsciousness.
Will: :-)

thirl - (n.) On a three-masted schooner, the third sail.
WILL - 1
Aussie 1
Elliott: THIRD.
Aussie: One point for having a reasonable sound to it.
Jean-Joseph: Ah, yes, and at some intermediate point it was called the
thir's'l.
Eric: Mizzensail.
Ranjit: Between the secol and the fourl, I assume.
Linda: After voting, I looked into The Sea Scout Manual of 1943.  I found:  
"It is now seriously agreed that in all vessels carrying a fore and aft
sail on the aftermost mast, this shall be known as The Spanker!"  I
couldn't find a picture of a 3-masted schooner, but on the three-masted
frigate, the aft mast was called the mizzen.

thirl - (n.) The felt-chinked water-cooled earth-brick hut of the Uighur
people, used to store ingots of soured yak-butter.
ERIC - 2
Kir 1, Will 1
Elliott: I'm a bit suspicious of this one -- IIRC the circular,
cone-roofed Uighur outbuildings are cooled with yak milk, not water.
Aussie: Gee, I was totally believing this until I got to "soured" yak
butter. There's no call for pre-souring one's ingots of yak butter -
that's taking convenience food a bit too far.
Hutch: yurt alert! Yurt Alert!! YURT ALERT!!!
Jean-Joseph: The Uighur have traveled quite a bit in their history.  
Originally, I think they were spanish.
Ranjit: More advanced Uighurs use liquid nitrogen for cooling their butter
ingots.
Melissa: Yurt alert!
Linda: no-no, ha-ha, not-yurt.
Pierre: which have been cooked over Pope smoke.
Will: 1 point for coolness!  Wow.  I am in awe.

thirl - (n.) A peon whose work in the fields belongs to his
lord, but who has the right to all or some proceeds from
his animal husbandry.
HUTCH - 2
2 Correct Guess
Elliott: CHURL, perhaps plus THANE.
Jean-Joseph: Another churl.  Or a thrall.
Ranjit: Are peons, fiefs, and serfs the new yurts?
Melissa: It's a churl!  It's a thane!  It's THIRL MAN!
Linda: In Charlestown, Sc, The Slaves' Market was where the slaves sold
their surplus (farmers are not sold at farmers' markets, I was told, and
neither were slaves). Today many craft items are still sold there.
Will: Interesting... probably David Randall.

thirl - (n.) Art whose wretchedness induces nausea.
DAVID - 2
Will 2
Elliott: The sleep of taste brings forth monstrosities.  Honorable
mention, but I'm out of points.
Hutch: There certainly *ought* to be a word for this *LOL*
Jean-Joseph: Or specifcally, makes you want to hurl.
Linda: It's art, but is it nice?  Too much schlock around. Have you seen
the big box of dirt in NYC?  Somewhere in Soho, if I recall.  Old and
moldy. Yuck.  Vomit.  Linda PS I once had a cat I called "My Art Critic"  
He used to spray on my art portfolio and vomit on a lot of household
stuff. We gave him "degree of difficulty" points for along the fringes of
a rug or down a stack of records.  Otherwise he was very friendly and even
let babies mangle him with love.
Will: 2 points.  If this isn't it, there should be a word for this!

thirl - (n.) A finial at the top of a gatepost.
MELISSA - 2
2 Correct Guess
Elliott: Plausible, since I don't know what a finial is.  But I'm all out
of points.
Hutch: These certainly sound very like real dictionary definitions. But
they're boring: which means one of them is probably right. *sigh*
Jean-Joseph: Loses the coin toss to the bobbin guide.
Linda: Nice sleeper at the end--almost missed it, as it printed on a
second page.




Snibor Eoj

jmrobins at oygevalt.org
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I'm a member of the Non-Sequitur Association of America
  "You can lead a yak to water, but you can't teach an old dog to make
   a silk purse out of a pig in a poke."  - Opus