Definition of "carle"

Eh, Mr Henry! but the carle gae him a screed o' doctrine! Ye might hae heard him a mile down the wind—He routed like a cow in a fremd loaning.

1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter I, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], page 9

Had he instead of on the Doge's throne Stamped the same brand upon a peasant's stool, His blood had gilt the threshold; for the carle Had stabbed him on the instant.

1820, Lord Byron, “Marino Faliero”, in The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 4‎

Ye may fancy I'm talking like a sour, disappointed auld carle.

1885, Charles Kingsley, Daily Thoughts‎

Spake the sad and sorry carle: "We seek the Land where the days are many: so many that he who hath forgotten how to laugh, may learn the craft again, and forget the days of Sorrow."

1913, William Morris, The Story of the Glittering Plain‎

I am no sheephearde with a Curre, attending on the flockes: / I am no Carle nor countrie Clowne, nor neathearde taking charge

1567, Arthur Golding; Ovid's Metamorphoses; Bk. 1 lines 622-3