Subject: birl

I've always thought of birling as what lumberjacks do on a log -- they have "birling contests" at which two of them stand at opposite ends of the same log and each tries to get each other to lose his balance (hopelessly chauvinistic and out of date, but then I don't know of too many in-the-water lumberjills) (neologism but it seems like the right appellation) by spinning the log aggressively. Yes? Are there other uses?