2012_02_11 burled \burld\, adjective: Having small knots

Word of the Day for Saturday, February 11, 2012
burled \burld\, adjective:
Having small knots that produce a distorted grain in wood.
It was Friday evening, and the master of Turpmtine, Charlie Croker, was presiding over dinner at the burled tupelo maple table Ronald Vine had devised for the Gun Room, which was the showpiece of the plantation's new Gun House.
 -- Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full
Then they passed underneath two burled trees that leaned against each other and stopped at the edge of an empty glade.
 -- Christopher Paolini, Eldest
Burled comes from the Old French word bourle, which meant a tuft of wool, from the Latin word for wool, burra. It is also the root of the word "burr."