wintle

wintle

English

Etymology

Perhaps from a Flemish dialect of Dutch windtelen (“to reel”); compare wentelen.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪntəl

Verb

wintle (third-person singular simple present wintles, present participle wintling, simple past and past participle wintled)

1. (Scotland) To wind, to reel.
   • c. 1688-1746, Author not recorded, Cumberland and Murray's Descent into Hell, 1861, Charles Mackay (editor), The Jacobite Songs and Ballads of Scotland from 1688 to 1746, page 266,

     The worm of hell, which never dies, / In wintled coil writhes up and fries.

   • 1974, Austin Clarke, quoted in 1981, G. Craig Tapping, Austin Clarke: A Study of His Writings, page 282,

     Along the cliffs a breeze wintled.

2. (Scotland) To stagger, to sway or rock.
3. (Scotland) To tumble, to capsize.
   • 1901, George Douglas Brown, The House with the Green Shutters, 2011, page 214,

     At a quick turn o' the road they wintled owre, and there they were, sitting on their doups in the atoms o' the gig, and glowering frae them!

4. (Scotland) To wriggle.
   • 2002, Micaela Gilchrist, The Good Journey, US, page 222,

     Miss Radford wintled across the floor on her bottom until she slumped beside Eloise, who rolled her eyes and bared her lower teeth.

Derived terms

• wintler

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• Wintel