kirn

¹

[ kurn; Scots kirn ]

verb (used with or without object)

1. to churn.

noun

1. a churn.

kirn

²

[ kurn; Scots kirn ]

noun

, Scot. and North England.

1. a harvest celebration; a feast or party celebrating a successful harvest.
2. the harvesting of the last handful of oats, wheat, or other grain, noting either the end of the harvest season or the winning of a race against other reapers. Compare kemp ¹( def 2 ).
3. the last handful of oats, wheat, or other grain that is gathered in the harvest.

Word History and Origins

Origin of kirn¹

1300–50; Middle English kirne (noun) < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse kirnuaskr a churn; cognate with churn

Origin of kirn²

First recorded in 1770–80; origin uncertain; perhaps akin to corn ¹

Example Sentences

The German electronic artist and blogger Peter Kirn deemed it “the end of an era.”

From Slate

Kirn admits, “I know only my own marriage,” but he would rather keep it “a secret.”

From New York Times

Our reviewer, Walter Kirn, declined to “give away the plot” of Wiedeman’s “indefatigable, scrupulous” portrait of “the dubious co-working-space company” and “the co-founder who eventually all but wrecked it” — which, “like the most engrossing nonfiction stories, has a plot indeed, one that only reality could contrive.”

From New York Times

Well before anyone knew who Greene was, or the Capitol was stormed by true believers, Walter Kirn wrote a perceptive essay in Harper’s about his own semi-serious obsession with “Q,” the self-proclaimed government agent who began posting perverse riddles on 4chan in late 2017.

From Washington Post

All the spurious dot-connecting struck Kirn as a democratized form of storytelling.

From Washington Post