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OP "Yes! and he faintly understands, poor Mr. Toots, that they are saying something of a time when he was sensible of being brighter and not addle-brained..."
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
Definition: \Ad"dle\, n. [OE. adel, AS. adela, mud.]
1. Liquid filth; mire. [Obs.]
2. Lees; dregs. [Prov. Eng.] --Wright.
\Ad"dle\, a.
Having lost the power of development, and become rotten, as
eggs; putrid. Hence: Unfruitful or confused, as brains;
muddled. --Dryden.
\Ad"dle\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. {Addled}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Addling}.]
To make addle; to grow addle; to muddle; as, he addled his
brain. ``Their eggs were addled.'' --Cowper.
\Ad"dle\, v. t. & i. [OE. adlen, adilen, to gain, acquire;
prob. fr. Icel. ["o][eth]lask to acquire property, akin to
o[eth]al property. Cf. {Allodial}.]
1. To earn by labor. [Prov. Eng.] --Forby.
2. To thrive or grow; to ripen. [Prov. Eng.]
Kill ivy, else tree will addle no more. --Tusser.
Most common usage I have seen refers to eggs that have been shaken, so that the germinating layer has been disrupted, and the egg cannot produce a chick. As a figure of speech, someone whose mental processes have become jumbled, is said to have an addled brain.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted addle wwh 10/21/03 08:05 PM Re: addle wwh 10/23/03 11:04 PM Re: addle Wordwind 10/23/03 11:35 PM Re: acorns wwh 10/24/03 12:57 AM Re: acorns maahey 10/24/03 02:16 AM Re: acorns Wordwind 10/24/03 11:35 PM Re: acorns wwh 10/25/03 12:50 AM Re: acorns Bingley 10/25/03 06:16 AM Re: acorns tsuwm 10/28/03 04:09 PM Re: acorns Wordwind 10/28/03 05:24 PM
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