car|line

car|line¹ or car|lin «KAHR lihn, KEHR-», noun. Scottish.

1. a woman, especially an old one (often implying contempt or disparagement).

2. a witch or one charged with being such.

╂[< Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic kerling < carl man, carl + -ing, a feminine suffix)]

car|line² «KAHR lihn», noun.

any plant of a genus of thistlelike composites of Europe, especially one species whose involucral scales are so sensitive to moisture (hygroscopic) that they serve as a natural weatherglass.

╂[< French carline < Medieval Latin Carolina (with reference to Charlemagne, Charles the Great)]

car|line³ «KAHR lihn», noun.

= carling. (Cf. ↑carling)