chiefly Scottish
as in to drink
to take part in drunken revelry spent a good part of his time in Edinburgh birling into the wee small hours of the night

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of birl There was sea salt in the air, and sleepless seagulls were birling in the darkness overhead. Douglas Stuart, The New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2020 In some parts of the United States, birling contests are annual events. Popular Mechanics Editors, Popular Mechanics, 16 Feb. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for birl
Verb
  • Staying active, meditating, drinking plenty of water and getting a full night’s sleep.
    Jackie Fields, PEOPLE, 6 Nov. 2025
  • Snag drinking glasses for 50% off and organic cotton cloth napkins for more than half off, plus check out big savings on entire dinnerware sets and more.
    Paige Bennett, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Many foreign attendees at San Fermín have no stomach for the spectacle and spend their early evenings carousing in local bars instead.
    Tony Perrottet, Smithsonian Magazine, 30 June 2025
  • These increasingly crazed visitors spend their days lazing on the shore, drinking and eating, carousing with prostitutes, and abusing Rosa (played by B-movie actress Leonora Fani, who would also star in the equally notorious vacation film Giallo in Venice) for their own entertainment.
    Erik Morse, Vogue, 26 June 2025
Verb
  • In the party scene, though, there would be plenty of swooping camera movements as the guests revelled.
    Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Fans reveled as the Nets and the Suns marked the league's return by playing a preseason game in the Venetian Arena, which is owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., which is also a casino operator there.
    Mithil Aggarwal, NBC news, 11 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Wrapped in a blanked on the sofa, binging reruns of The Oprah Show on YouTube and gleefully ignoring emails all morning is my idea of heaven.
    Jackie Fields, PEOPLE, 6 Nov. 2025
  • Back at Focus Fest, Liam Newman, a North Hollywood sound engineer and Letterboxd user, came to the event after binging Lanthimos’ oeuvre and is looking forward to the director’s latest.
    Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • One of his sons, Thomas (Dean-Charles Chapman), though hardly old enough to be in long pants, wears shining armor, while the other son, Hal (Timothée Chalamet), is a slouch who wastes his life in roistering.
    Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2019
Verb
  • Image Image In the village of Midsomer Norton, about 50 miles away, 100 people or so turned out for a community event to wassail three small apple trees in the local park.
    Stephen Castle, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025
  • This drink was often used as part of wassailing in England.
    BHG Test Kitchen, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 June 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Birl.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/birl. Accessed 11 Nov. 2025.

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