chiefly Scottish
as in to drink
to take part in drunken revelry spent a good part of his time in Edinburgh birling into the wee small hours of the night

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of birl There was sea salt in the air, and sleepless seagulls were birling in the darkness overhead. Douglas Stuart, The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2020 Another, unable to reach dry land, dug his spiked boots into a slippery timber and birled downriver. Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2019 In some parts of the United States, birling contests are annual events. Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for birl
Verb
  • Americans — but especially Californians — drink the most tequila, which can be called tequila only if it’s grown in Mexico.
    Ryan Fonseca, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2025
  • What there seemed to be more of, though, was drinking.
    Kristen Mascia, Parents, 4 Mar. 2025
Verb
  • Its governor, Edward Jackson, was a close friend of the the Indiana Klan leader, D. C. Stephenson, a pudgy man with a reputation for high living, carousing, and trouble with the law.
    Tara McAndrew, JSTOR Daily, 25 Jan. 2017
  • From there, a series of scenes — a late-night house party full of adults drinking and carousing, a cascade of tinsel falling off a Christmas tree, a playground fail — replicate a you-are-there feeling as a preadolescent named Elwood Curtis navigates the agonies and ecstasies of boyhood.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 Dec. 2024
Verb
  • Key speeches are faithfully delivered to an audience of two, not thousands; a scene of soldiers destructively revelling on a bridge is given a different spirit by ironic, out-of-time horseplay.
    Guy Lodge, Variety, 8 Feb. 2025
  • Another interesting finding from the clinical trial that was more recently reveled is the reduction of visceral fat.
    Yola Robert, Forbes, 21 Jan. 2025
Verb
  • If current trends continue, millennial women will become as likely to binge drink as millennial men.
    Kristen Mascia, Parents, 4 Mar. 2025
  • Her love of science came from watching PBS shows as a kid with her mom and spending too much time binging Doctor Who. animal behavior animals 1 free article left Want More?
    Monica Cull, Discover Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • Image Image In the village of Midsomer Norton, about 50 miles away, 100 people or so turned out for a community event to wassail three small apple trees in the local park.
    Stephen Castle, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025
  • This drink was often used as part of wassailing in England.
    BHG Test Kitchen, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 June 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Birl.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/birl. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

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