Gnarled

First attested Shakespeare 1603:

Online Etymology Dictionary

Thy sharpe and sulpherous bolt Splits the vn-wedgable unwedgable and gnarled Oke oak.

Measure for Measure, Act II, scene ii, line 116

Variant of knurled,

OED

Barnhart

from knurl. Surface analysis is gnarl + -ed, though gnarl is a later back-formation. Popular use by 19th century.

Full definition of gnarled

Adjective

1. Knotty and misshapen.
• 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody Chapter 1, Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with...on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
2. Made rough by age or hard work.

Synonyms

• gnarly

Derived terms

• gnarl

Verb

1. gnarled

   (past of gnarl)
   Etymology 1

See gnarl Etymology 2

Verb

1. gnarled

   (past of gnarl)
   Etymology 2

Anagrams

• dangler