eyethurl
nounEtymology Revived from Old English ēagþyrel (possibly for puristic reasons). Popularized by Susan Kelz Sperling’s 1977 book Poplollies and Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words (See quotation). By surface analysis, eye + thurl (“hole”).
- A kidcote is a special name for a prison. Some kidcotes don’t even have an eyethurl. What is an eyethurl? An eyethurl is a window such as the one through which the lovely Rapunzel let down her crinets. […] Note: For dretching the curly crineted child with a fearbabe, the killbuck was sent to a kidcote without an eyethurl. […] The hardhewer graffed for stone for a knosp / For the door to his cosh, upsy-English with burl; / He theeked it with thatch and stood back to aimcry, / Then shrieked, “Juvament! Hadivist! No eyethurl!”1977, Susan Kelz Sperling, Poplollies and Bellibones: A Celebration of Lost Words, New York, N.Y.: Clarkson N. Potter, →ISBN, pages 31 and 53:
- Hark! What light through yonder eyethurl breaks.1978, Stuart Diamond, Paul S. Lorris, It’s in Your Power: The Concerned Energy Consumer’s Survival Kit, New York, N.Y.: Rawson Associates Publishers, Inc., →ISBN, page 135, column 2:
4 more examples
- I was watching the sunset through our eyethurl when I heard strange slurping noises just a wurp away.1979, Susan Kelz Sperling, The New Book of Knowledge Annual 1979, Danbury, Conn.: Grolier, →ISBN, page 319:
- There he saw a bellibone sticking her head out of an eyethurl and crying. […] He threw the rope up to the eyethurl.1979 September 24, Lauren Calobrisi, “[Fun, Games & Stuff: Kidsday] Story Time: The Kotee and the Bellibone”, in Newsday, Suffolk edition, volume 40, number 22, Long Island, N.Y.: Newsday Inc., part II, page 14:
- Glancing out the eyethurl of her modest cosh, she saw a blue scrow—a good sign for a new day.1985, Cathryn Berger Kaye, Word Works: Why the Alphabet Is a Kid’s Best Friend (A Brown Paper School Book), Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 99, column 1:
- Beware of eyethurls that rob home of cooling and heating energy1985 March 13, The Central and North Jackson County Star, Kansas City, Mo., page 11B: