Definition of "skirl" in English

verb

1. (Scotland, Northern England) To make a shrill sound, as of bagpipes.

   • 1829, James Hogg (as the Ettrick Shepherd), The p and the q, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 26, page 693, He gloom'd and he skirl'd, and, when in hard case, / He whiles gae his mother a yerk on the face;

noun

1. (Scotland, Northern England) A shrill sound, as of bagpipes.

   • 2006 [Bantam], Nick Drake, Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead, 2011, Black Swan, page 191, The last servants and late officials hurried into their places, the guards took their positions, and then, with a beating of the drums and a skirl of reed pipes, the whole group made its way back across the courtyard and up the stairs to the Window of Appearances between the palace and the Great Temple.

2. A blast (of wind-blown snow or rain); a gust (especially if accompanied by snow or rain, or a shill or whistling sound).

verb

1. Alternative form of shirl.