View example sentences, synonyms and word forms for Churl.
Churl meaning
A free peasant (as opposed to a serf) of the lowest rank, below an earl and a thane; a freeman; also (more generally), a person without royal or noble status; a commoner. | A bondman or serf. | A rough, surly, ill-bred person; a boor.
Example sentences (5)
Here is a movie so monumentally silly, yet so wondrous to look at, that only a churl could find fault." citation Box office performance Tomb Raider was a box office success.
In 9th century Mercian law a regular freeman ( churl ) was worth 200 shillings A shilling was defined as the value of a cow in Kent or elsewhere, a sheep.
In the Migration period the standard weregeld for a freeman appears to have been 200 solidi ( shillings ), an amount reflected as the basic fee due for the death of a churl (or ceorl) both in later Anglo-Saxon and continental law codes.
The Carle of Carlisle (17th century) also resembles Gawain in a scene in which the Carle (Churl), a lord, takes Sir Gawain to a chamber where two swords are hanging and orders Gawain to cut off his head or suffer his own to be cut off.
The most common assumption is that Karl Hundason was an insulting byname ( Old Norse for "Churl, son of a Dog") given to Macbeth by his enemies.