Nearby Words

gnarled

[nahrld] Example Sentences Origin

gnarled

[nahrld]
adjective
1.
(of trees) full of or covered with gnarls; bent; twisted.
2.
having a rugged, weather-beaten appearance: a gnarled old sea captain.
3.
crabby; cantankerous.

Origin:
1595–1605; variant of knurled

un·gnarled, adjective

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Gnarled is always a great word to know.
So is bezoar. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Example Sentences
  • But in a certain context, the gnarled roots of an exposed stump can impress too.
  • During those flips, the Sun's deep magnetic field gets really gnarled.
  • The wind of the north has twisted and gnarled its branches.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

gnarl

1[nahrl]
noun
1.
a knotty protuberance on a tree; knot.
verb (used with object)
2.
to twist into a knotted or distorted form.

Origin:
1805–15; back formation from gnarled


2. contort, distort.

gnarl

2[nahrl]
verb (used without object)
to growl; snarl.

Origin:
1585–95; variant of gnar
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To gnarled
Collins
World English Dictionary
gnarled (nɑːld)
 
adj
1.  having gnarls
2.  (esp of hands) rough, twisted, and weather-beaten in appearance
3.  perverse or ill-tempered

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

gnarl
"contort, twist," 1814, a back-formation from gnarled.
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gnarled
the source of the whole group of words, including 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 calls it a variant of knurled, from M.E. knar "knot in wood" (late 14c.), originally "a rock, a stone;" of uncertain origin. "(Gnarled) occurs in one passage of Shakes. (for which the sole authority is the folio of 1623), whence it came into general use in the nineteenth century" [OED].
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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