Churl
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): (n.) A rustic; a countryman or laborer.
(2): (n.) A selfish miser; an illiberal person; a niggard.
(3): (n.) A rough, surly, ill-bred man; a boor.
(4): (a.) Churlish; rough; selfish.
King James Dictionary [2]
Churl n.
1. A rude, surly, man. 2. A rustic a countryman, or laborer. 3. A miser a niggard. Isaiah 32 .
Easton's Bible Dictionary [3]
Isaiah 32:5 1 Samuel 25:3 Matthew 25:24
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
chûrl ( כּילי , kı̄lay or כּלי , kēlay ): The Hebrew word occurs only in Isaiah 32:5 , Isaiah 32:7 , in the latter verse in a form slightly modified so as to produce a pleasing assonance with the word immediately following. The word probably means "crafty" or "miserly," both ideas being suitable to the context, though "miserly" accords with the setting in Isa somewhat better.
In 1 Samuel 25:3 the Hebrew ḳāsheh which means "hard," "severe," "rough," is rendered "churlish." In Saxon, churl, as the name for the lowest order of freemen, came to be used of persons boorish in manner. The rough and ill-mannered Nabal is aptly described as churlish.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
( כִּילִי , Kilay', Isaiah 32:5; or כֵּלִי , Kelay', Isaiah 32:7), a Deceiver (as it should have been rendered); while Churlish is the proper rendering (of קָשֶּׁה , kasheh', rough, as often elsewhere rendered) for a coarse, ill-natured fellow ( 1 Samuel 25:3; compare 2 Maccabees 14:20; Sirach 18:18; Sirach 42:14), like Nabal (q.v.).
