gnarled

gnarled
\ \ [17] Gnarled is essentially a 19thcentury word. It is recorded once before then, in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure 1603 (‘Thy sharp and sulphurous bolt splits the unwedgable and gnarled oak’), but its modern currency is due to its adoption by early 19th-century romantic writers. It is probably a variant of knurled [17], itself a derivative of knur or knorrough misshapen lump, as on a tree trunk’ [14], which is related to German knorrenknot, gnarled branch or trunk’.
\ \ Cf.KNURLED

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • gnarled — (adj.) the source of the group of words that includes gnarl (v.), gnarl (n.), gnarly is Shakespeare s use of gnarled in 1603: Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt Splits the vn wedgable and gnarled Oke. [ Measure for Measure, II.ii.116] OED and… …   Etymology dictionary

  • gnarled — [na:ld US na:rld] adj [Date: 1600 1700; Origin: knurled having raised lines on the surface (17 21 centuries), from knurl small part sticking out (17 21 centuries)] 1.) a gnarled tree or branch is rough and twisted with hard lumps 2.) gnarled… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • gnarled — [ narld ] adjective old and twisted and covered in lines: gnarled hands a gnarled old apple tree …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Gnarled — Gnarled, a. Knotty; full of knots or gnarls; twisted; crossgrained. [1913 Webster] The unwedgeable and gnarl[ e]d oak. Shak. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • gnarled — [adj] knotted bent, contorted, crooked, deformed, distorted, gnarly, knurled, leathery, out of shape, rough, rugged, tortured, twisted, weather beaten, wrinkled; concepts 485,486 Ant. straight, unbent, uncurled, untwisted …   New thesaurus

  • gnarled — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ knobbly, rough, and twisted, especially with age. ORIGIN variant of knarled, from obsolete knarre rugged rock or stone …   English terms dictionary

  • gnarled — [närld] adj. [ult. < ME knorre, a knot: see KNUR] 1. knotty and twisted, as the trunk of an old tree 2. roughened, hardened, sinewy, etc., as hands that do rough work: Also gnarly or gnarlier or gnarliest …   English World dictionary

  • gnarled — [[t]nɑ͟ː(r)ld[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED A gnarled tree is twisted and strangely shaped because it is old. ...a large and beautiful garden full of ancient gnarled trees. 2) ADJ GRADED A person who is gnarled looks very old because their skin has lines on …   English dictionary

  • gnarled — [17] Gnarled is essentially a 19thcentury word. It is recorded once before then, in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure 1603 (‘Thy sharp and sulphurous bolt splits the unwedgable and gnarled oak’), but its modern currency is due to its adoption by… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • gnarled — adjective 1 a gnarled tree or branch is rough and twisted with hard lumps 2 gnarled hands or fingers are twisted, rough, and difficult to move, usually because they are old …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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