Search

Scot.

a strong, robust fellow, especially a strong manual laborer.
a miser; an extremely thrifty person.

Archaic. a churl.
Obsolete. a bondman.
Contemporary Examples

These claims are absolutely false, according to former interrogators such as carle and Kleinman.
Human Rights Watch: Prosecute Bush, Cheney Over Torture Crimes R.M. Schneiderman July 11, 2011

“Prosecutions will divide us and not make these excesses less likely,” said carle.
Human Rights Watch: Prosecute Bush, Cheney Over Torture Crimes R.M. Schneiderman July 11, 2011

“The whole ticking-time-bomb thesis is … so cockamamie,” said carle.
Human Rights Watch: Prosecute Bush, Cheney Over Torture Crimes R.M. Schneiderman July 11, 2011

Historical Examples

The carle said that he had heeded salt-boiling more than the ways of kings; and therewith he goes up to the king’s house.
The Story Of Frithiof The Bold Anonymous

“That will be our supper to-night,” observed the carle, as he disengaged the spear.
Erling the Bold R.M. Ballantyne

But Goldilocks, he looked and longed, And saw how the carle the queen-bird wronged.
Poems by the Way William Morris

I’ll never have the man who’s wanting the strick of carle hemp in the making of him!’
Two Penniless Princesses Charlotte M. Yonge

Said the carle: “We have come the shortest way this bitter morning; that is all.”
The Sundering Flood William Morris

Then the carle said, “Another cup for the longer after youth!”
The Story of the Glittering Plain William Morris

How sayest thou, carle; what if I were to set thee in the forefront of the press amongst the very knighthood?’
The Sundering Flood William Morris

noun
(archaic) another word for churl
n.

c.1300, “bondsman; common man, man of low birth,” from Old Norse karl “man, male, freeman,” from Proto-Germanic *karlon-, the same root that produced Old English ceorl “man of low degree” (see churl).

The Mellere was a stout carle for the nones [Chaucer]

masc. proper name, from Middle High German Karl “man, husband” (see carl).