From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpurlpurl /pɜːl $ pɜːrl/ noun [uncountable] DLHa type of stitch that you use when you knit (=make clothes from wool) —purl verb [intransitive, transitive]
Examples from the Corpus
purl• This is simply because the second, or front, bed makes knit and purl knitting possible within the same row.• The evening cape illustrated in Figure 1 is straight piece of knitting, using 16 rows each of purl and plain stitches.• It's a woolly doll for Pete's sake - knit one, purl one - I saw it.• Usually the right side is the purl side, while on the knit side the weaving hardly shows at all.• The plating feeder holds them so that one yarn is always on the purl side and one on the knit side.• Knitweave can be thought of as a stocking stitch fabric with the weaving yarn caught into it on the purl side.• Tuck and slip are both textured stitches, where usually the purl side is the right side.• Slip stitch is also a textured stitch where the purl side is the right side.Origin purl (1500-1600) pirl “to twist” ((15-19 centuries)) 