quirling

English

Verb

quirling

1. present participle and gerund of quirl

Noun

quirling (plural quirlings)

1. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (US, obsolete) A coiling or swirling sensation.
   • 1754, Thomas Bond, “An account of a worm bred in the liver”, in Med. Observ. & Inq., volume 1:

     She thought there was something alive in her side, for (to use her own expression) she said she plainly perceived a tickling and quirling in it...The stomach had hitherto received, retained, and digested the food tolerably well, but was now affected with an incessant heaving and nausea, unless now and then relieved by strong opiates or large draughts of spirituous liquors; there was likewise the same sensation of tickling and quirling in it that had been before perceived in the side.

   • 1755, Sarah Browne, “A letter from Mrs. Holt's sister to Benjamin Franklin, Esq., describing the same case”, in Med. Observ. & Inq., volume 1:

     She next complained of a quirling pain, that wou’d last three or four hours with the utmost violence.