gnarled
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L337113 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /nɑː(ɹ)ld/
adj
Etymology: First attested Shakespeare 1603: : Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt Splits the vn-wedgable [unwedgable] and gnarled Oke [oak]. : Measure for Measure, Act II, scene ii, line 116 Variant of knurled, from knurl. By surface analysis, gnarl + -ed, though gnarl is a later back-formation. Popular use by 19th century.
- Knotty and misshapen.
“Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with […] on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.”
“For students of history and culture, the cherry trees’ delicate flowers and gnarled trunks speak to the enduring soft power of global goodwill, culture, and faith in a better future to overcome division, including wartime enmity and destruction.”
- Made rough by age or hard work.
verb
Etymology: See gnarl (Etymology 2).
- simple past and past participle of gnarl (Etymology 2)