Noun

(en noun)

(UK, colloquial) A headlong fall or tumble.

He came a purler on the icy path.

* 1869 , “Stonehenge” (editor), The Coursing Calendar for the Autumn Season 1868, Containing Returns of All the Public Courses Run in Great Britain snd Ireland , page 172,

Dilston and Savernake: the latter led, and turned, but in trying to kill came down a purler , which completely knocked all the go out of him; Dilston took possession of the hare, and kept it, winning the course in hollow style.

* 1954 , British Broadcasting Corporation, , Volume 51, page 67,

Her French-speaking table in the dining-room is a riot of second-rate behaviour and dexterously aimed bread-pellets; the stairs outside her bedroom are relentlessly buttered and she comes purler' after ' purler .

* 1986 , Judith Saxton (), Family Feeling , 2012, unnumbered page,

Yet he was very sure that he had tripped and gone a purler just as he was leaving the Other Place . . . had that made him gash his forehead, once he was back in the pit?

* 2003 , Susan Hill, The Boy Who Taught The Beekeeper To Read'', ''The Boy Who Taught The Beekeeper To Read: And Other Stories , 2011, unnumbered page,

‘You could hold the ladder,’ Mart said, ‘see I don?t come a purler .’

(UK, colloquial) A knockdown blow; a blow that causes a person to fall headlong.

* 1867 , , 2006, page 60,

but, falling with a mighty crash, gave him a purler on the opposite side, and was within an inch of striking him dead with his hoof in frantic struggles to recover.

Noun

(en noun)

(Australia, colloquial) Something extremely good.

* {{quote-newsgroup

, title=Top3 best games of all time , group=aus.sport.aussie-rules , author=peter.ryan , date=May 12 , year=2000 , passage=The greatest game ever played is the one marketed with that tag by Australian Football Video:  the 1989 round 6 match at Prince's Park between Hawthorn and Geelong, an awesome display of the skills of the game.  It is doubtful whether two such great sides had ever graced a single season as the Hawks and the Cats did in 1989.  The return match in September was a bit of a purler too, as I recall. citation

* {{quote-newsgroup

, title=Best way to transport wreck Syd-Tsv. , group=aus.motorcycles , author=George W , date=December 24 , year=2008 , passage=And just when I had a slight thought that there could be a "Lets be nice to George Week"
And you come along with that purler . citation

Noun

(en noun)

A particular stitch in knitting; an inversion of stitches giving the work a ribbed or waved appearance.

The edge of lace trimmed with loops.

An embroidered and puckered border; a hem or fringe, often of gold or silver twist; also, a pleat or fold, as of a band.

* Sir Philip Sidney

A triumphant chariot made of carnation velvet, enriched with purl and pearl.

Noun

(en noun)

a heavy or headlong fall; an upset.

Noun

(en noun)

(UK, dialect) A circle made by the motion of a fluid; an eddy; a ripple.

* Drayton

Whose stream an easy breath doth seem to blow, / Which on the sparkling gravel runs in purles , / As though the waves had been of silver curls.

(UK, dialect) A gentle murmuring sound, such as that produced by the running of a liquid among obstructions.

the purl of a brook

Noun

(-)

(archaic) Ale or beer spiced with wormwood or other bitter herbs, regarded as a tonic.

* The Spectator , number 88

A double mug of purle .

(archaic) Hot beer mixed with gin, sugar, and spices.

* Addison

Drank a glass of purl to recover appetite.

* Charles Dickens

Drinking hot purl , and smoking pipes.

Noun

(en noun)

(UK, dialect) A tern.

(Webster 1913)