eddy or swirl in air, a ripple, a faint breeze. Many words to do with wind are onomatopoeic. This word sounds so very soft and gentle. The wind that had rippled this pool was no more than a breath: The sun was shinin bright, the wind was lown, an’ wi’ the pirl being away, the pool was as clear as crystal (Blackwood’s Magazine April 1817).
And this is what we call a saft day: There was a fine pirl out frae the Wast, wi’ a sma’ smurr o’ rain (Hew Ainslie A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns 1822).