burl

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English burle (“a knot or flaw in cloth”), from Old French bourle (“flocks or ends of threads which disfigure cloth”), diminutive of Old French bourre, from Medieval Latin burra (“flock of wool, coarse hair”).

1. A tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner; a burr knot.
2. Wood of a mottled veneer, usually cut from such a growth.
3. A knot or lump in thread or cloth.

verb

Etymology: From Middle English burle (“a knot or flaw in cloth”), from Old French bourle (“flocks or ends of threads which disfigure cloth”), diminutive of Old French bourre, from Medieval Latin burra (“flock of wool, coarse hair”).

1. To remove the knots in cloth.