Meaning

noun gold or silver wire thread

noun a basic knitting stitch

verb flow in a circular current, of liquids

originUnknown; apparently related to Scots and dialect pirl (“twist, ripple, whirl, spin”), and possibly to Older Scots pyrl ("thrust or poke at"). Compare Venetan pirlo, an embellishment where the woven threads are twisted together. May be unrelated to purfle, though the meanings are similar.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0