whortle

English

Etymology

From Middle English hurtil, hurtle, from Old English horte (“whortleberry”) (plural hortan) but of unknown ultimate origin.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝtl̩/, /ˈʍɝtl̩/

Noun

whortle (plural whortles)

1. (archaic) The whortleberry or bilberry.
   • 1869, Richard Doddridge Blackmore, Lorna Doone:

     […] winding to the southward, he stopped his little nag short of the crest, and got off and looked ahead of him, from behind a tump of whortles.

Related terms

• whortle bush

References

• “whortle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Lowther