a wooden stick for stirring porridge or similar thick substances
2. obsolete
a flat kitchen tool used to turn food on a griddle or in a pan
3. humorous
a sword
spurtle in American English
(ˈspɜːrtl)
noun
chiefly Scot
a stick used to stir porridge
Word origin
[1540–50; spurt- (by metathesis from sprit) + -le]This word is first recorded in the period 1540–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: flare, gondola, labyrinth, mandate, monitor-le is a suffix of verbs having a frequentative force. Other words that use the affix-le include: baffle, crackle, joggle, mingle, nibble
Examples of 'spurtle' in a sentence
spurtle
A smooth, clockwise rotation with the right hand is the customary approach with a spurtle.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Superstition says it must be stirred clockwise with a spurtle, a wooden stirring stick, to avoid bad luck.
The Sun (2010)
My first kitchen instruction was how to stir with a spurtle porridge made with water, eaten with salt and butter.