Chiefly Sc. Also 6 thirll, 6–7 thirle. [A metathetic variant of THRILL v.2]
† 1. trans. To reduce to or hold in bondage or servitude; to enslave (a person, country, etc.).
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), I. 538. This land … wes thirlit and ouirthrawin Be this tirrane that now is laitlie deid.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 109. That daye, behuffit thay othir to recover thair liberte, or ellis be thirlit to perpetual servitude.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 35. Father gif me my part of geir,… I will na mair be thirlit heir.
† b. To subject or bind to some condition. Obs.
1541. Bellenden, Descr. Albion, i. in Cron. Scot., B j b. All thyngis (quhilkis ar comprehendit within the speir of the mone) ar sa thirlit to deith & alteration, yt [etc.].
1586. Reg. Privy Council Scot., IV. 102. To … thirll him to the pament of certane ministeris stipendis to be modifeit be thame.
2. Sc. Law. To bind or astrict (lands or tenants) to a servitude, esp. to a particular mill (usually that of the landlord or superior) for the grinding of their corn: see THIRLAGE 2.
[1480: see THRILL v.2 2.]
1574. Reg. Privy Council Scot., II. 384. Quhilk haill lordschip is thirlit to the mylne of Mabroule.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., I. 113. No … Fermour may thirle his Lord of his frie tenement, althought he within his time haue done thirle seruice [seruicium] … not aught be him…. For the law sayes, that the deedes of the Fermour may not thirle, nor make prejudice to his Lords right.
1773. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., II. ix. § 21. Thirlage … may be constituted … by the proprietor thirling his tenants to his own mill.
1805. G. Barry, Orkney Isl. (1808), 356. Mills, to which almost all the lands are thirled or astricted.
fig. 1834. Tait’s Mag., I. 428/2. Earnest-money given by the Church, in sign that he has thirled himself to her mill.
b. with the corn as object.
1881. J. Russell, Haigs of Bemersyde, v. 115. On the other part, Robert Haig (in contract of 1592) … ‘thirles’ the whole of the corns of the lands of Bemersyde to the mill of Dryburgh,… the said corns to be thirled for all time coming.
† 3. To mortgage (land, etc.). Obs.
1582. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 521. Thay … have spendit and warit thair commoun gude and rentis that the samin ar yit thirlit and not fre. Ibid. (1582–3), 554. His saidis landes … wilbe altogither thirlit and engadgit. Ibid. (1587), IV. 170. Thay have thirllit ane uthir parte of thair commoun gude.
4. To bind or oblige (a person) to give his work, service, or custom to one particular party.
1871. A. S. Harvey, in Gd. Words, 614. Till this account is cleared off, the hapless knitter is hopelessly bound or ‘thirled’ to the merchant.
1890. H. Haliburton, In Scot. Fields, 125. The inhabitants were not, of course, ‘thirled’ to any particular tailor, as they used to be to a district mill.
b. fig. To bind, confine, or restrict in service or action to (some party or thing); to tie to.
1864. W. Arnot, Parab. our Lord, iv. (1874), 119. The serpent, as a metaphor, was in practice as completely thirled to the indication of evil, as leaven had been.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., IV. lxxix. (1889), II. 266. Great is their power, because they are deemed to be less ‘thirled’ to a party or leader, because they speak from a moral standpoint.
1902. Union Mag., June, 246/2. We don’t ‘thirl’ ourselves enough to our duties.
1903. W. Dickie, Chr. Ethics Soc. Life, 18. God does not encourage us to be thirled to this world and its material things.
Hence Thirled ppl. a.2, bound in servitude, service, or duty.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 59. Till Christ … I gif my thirlit hart in gouernance.
a. 1722. Fountainhall, Decisions (1759), I. 276. The defender ought not to have built a mill upon the thirled lands.
1898. Crockett, Standard Bearer, iv. 36. As a thirled labourer serves for his meat.
