hirple

verb /ˈhɜː.pəl/

1. To walk with a limp, to drag a limb, to walk lamely; to move with a gait somewhere between walking and crawling.

   intransitive

   In hidlings hirpling here and there,

   I saw the hurcheon and the hare

Where it comes from

A word of unknown origin, first recorded in Scots sources from the late fifteenth century; but probably from Old Norse herpast (“to suffer from cramp”) the middle voice verb. Compare the Icelandic herpa (“to contract, to draw together”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry hirple (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← hiraethhispid →

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