▪ I. ache, v.
(eɪk)
Pa. tense and pple. ached. Forms: inf. 1 acan; 2–4 aken, -in, eken; 3–9 ake; 8–9 ache. ind. pres. 3rd sing. 1 æcð; 2–4 akþ, akeþ. pa. tense 1–2 óc; 2–4 ok; 3–4 ook; 4–5 oke; 4–5 akede, -ide; 5– aked; 8–9 ached. pa. pple. 1 acen; 2–3 aken; soon obs. and repl. by aked; 8–9 ached. A late Sc. variant is ȝaik, yak(e.
[Originally a strong vb. of same class as take, shake, but with weak inflections since 4. The current spelling ache is erroneous; the vb. being historically ake, and the n. ache, as in bake, batch, speak, speech. About 1700 the n. began to be confused in pronunciation with the vb., whence some confusion in spelling between ache and ake; and finally instead of both being written ake—the word that has survived,—both vb. and n. are now written ache—the word that has become obsolete. That is, the word ache has become obs. and been replaced by the word ake, while the spelling ake has become obs. and been replaced by the spelling ache. For this paradoxical result, Dr. Johnson is mainly responsible: ignorant of the history of the words, and erroneously deriving them from the Gr. ἄχος (with which they have no connexion) he declared them ‘more grammatically written ache.’ See next word.]
1. a. To be in pain, to have the sensation of pain continuous or prolonged; to throb with pain.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. 36 (MS. D.) Acað m{iacu}ne eáᵹan. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 149 Þenne wule his hearte ake alse his fet & his honde. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 21 Ðe time cam swo þat hire ne oc . ne ne smeart. c 1230 Ancren Riwle 360 Betere is finker offe þen he eke euer. a 1250 Juliana (R. MS.) 48 Ant bond..ba twa his honden þat him eoc euch neil. 1297 R. Glouc. 208 Ech lyme hym ok. c 1305 St. Andrew, in E.E.P. (1862) 100 Him oke ech bon. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 258 So owre wombe aketh. 1382 Wyclif 1 Kings xv. 23 In the tyme of his eelde he akide the feet. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 706, I preye God lat oure hedes nevere ake! 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 159 Þauh alle my fyngres oken. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6910 Sadde burdons that men taken, Make folkes shuldris aken. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle (1483) v. xiv. 105 When I the Appel took Hit sat so nyhe my sydes that they ook. c 1430 Hymns to Virg. (1867) 80 Oure body wole icche, oure bonis wole ake. c 1440 Prom. Parv., Akyn: doleo. 1572 Lament. Lady Scotland (Scottish Poems 16th Cent.) II. 243 My heid dois wark and ȝaik. 1595 Shakes. John iv. i. 41 When your head did but ake I knit my hand-kercher about your browes. 1664 Butler Hudibras ii. ii. 797 Cramm'd 'em till their Guts did ake With Cawdle, Custard and Plum⁓cake. 1729 Savage Wanderer i. 176 Now veers the wind full east; and keen, and sore, Its cutting influence aches in every pore! 1753 Richardson Grandison (1781) I. xxx. 216 Does not your heart ake for your Harriet? 1821 Keats Isabella xxviii. Ah! when a soul doth thus its freedom win It aches in loneliness. 1821 Combe Dr. Syntax, Consolation iii. 187 Her death made many a bosom ake Upon the banks of Keswick Lake. 1850 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poems I. 153 Thy sorrow aches in me. |
b. fig. Of a person: to suffer the pains of longing (to do something); to long or yearn for; to be impatient or anxious (in anticipation). orig. U.S.
| 1893 ‘Mark Twain’ in Cosmopolitan Nov. 57/1, I saw she had been aching to have me ask it. 1922 S. Anderson Triumph of Egg 14 Gee! I ached to see that race and those two horses run, ached and dreaded it too. 1937 ‘J. Bell’ Murder in Hospital xi. 218 Rachel is simply aching to get back. 1948 L. A. G. Strong Trevannion xvii. 315 Her beauty made me ache to have it with me always. 1967 J. Bowen After Rain (1972) ii. 52 But, love, I want to. We both want to. I ache for it. 1978 C. Rayner Long Acre xvi. 160 Amy was aching to hurry him. 1985 D. Lessing Good Terrorist 44 Now she ached for tea, something to eat. |
† 2. trans. causal. To make to ache. Obs. rare.
| 1566 Udall R. Doyster iv. vi. (1847) 68 Ill ake your heades bothe! I was never werier, Nor never more vexte, since the first day I was borne. |
▪ II. ache, n.1
(eɪk)
Forms: 1 ace, æce, ece; 2–3 eche; 2–9 ache; (4 hacche); 6 atche.
[OE. æce is a primary deriv. of vb. ac-an to ache, in which, as in parallel forms, the c (k) was palatalized to ch (tʃ), while in the vb. it remained (k); cf. make, match; bake, batch; wake, watch; break, breach; speak, speech; stick, stitch. Occasional early instances of ake as n. are northern, in which dialect c (k) was not palatalized, cf. make = match, steik = stitch, kirk = church. In 7 the n. was still atche (ɑːtʃ, ɛːtʃ) pl. atch-es (ɑːtʃɪz, ɛːtʃɪz), but about 1700 it began to be confused with the vb. as (ɛːk). The spelling of the latter has in turn been changed to ache, so that though both vb. and n. are now really ake, both are in current spelling written ache. See prec. The former pronunciation survives in the dialectal eddage = head-ache; cf. Smallage for Small Ache f. ache n.2 The ‘O.P.’ rioters, ignorant of the Shaksperian distinction of ake and ache, ridiculed the stage pronunciation of the n. by giving it to the vb. in ‘John Kemble's head aitches’.]
A pain; in later usage, a continuous or abiding pain, in contrast to a sudden or sharp one. Used of both physical and mental sensations.
| c 885 K. ælfred Bæda v. iii. (1722) 616 Eal ðæt sár and se æce onwæᵹ alæded wæs. c 940 Sax. Leechd. II. 32 Maniᵹ man hæfþ micelne ece on his eaᵹum. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 165 Eche and smertinge, sorinesse, werinesse. c 1230 Ancren Riwle 360 He þet naueð eche under so sor ekinde heaued. c 1350 Will. Palerne 826 So harde hacches of loue here hert hadde þirled. 1388 Wyclif 1 Kings xv. 23 Asa hadde ache in feet. c 1440 Prom. Parv. 8 Ake, or ache, or akynge: Dolor. 1568 Turner Herbal 20 Catarres, runninges of the eyes and other aykes. 1592 H. Chettle Kind-Harts Dr. (1841) 22 These trauelers that, by incision, are able to ease all atches. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iv. 56 Beat. I am exceeding ill, hey ho. Mar. For a hauke, a horse, or a husband? Beat. For the letter that begins them all, H. 1610 ― Temp. i. ii. 370 Ile racke thee with old Crampes Fill all thy bones with Aches, make thee rore. 1674 J. B[rian] Harvest-Home §4. 23 Free from attaches Of sickness weakness, in no part feel aches. 1727 Swift City Shower Wks. 1755 III. ii. 38, A coming show'r your shooting corns presage, Old aches throb, your hollow tooth will rage. 1796–7 Coleridge Poems (1862) 22 All the thousand aches ‘Which patient merit of the unworthy takes.’ 1807 Crabbe Village i. 149 And hoard up aches and anguish for their age. 1862 B. Taylor Poet's Journal (1866) 21 The steady ache of strong desires restrained. |
▪ III. † ache, n.2 Obs.
(eɪtʃ)
[a. Fr. ache:—L. apium, ad. Gr. ἄπιον parsley (or some allied plant). The intermed. stages between apium and ache were apio, apje, apche.]
An umbelliferous plant; properly the Smallage (i.e. Small-Ache) or Wild Celery (Apium graveolens), but loosely applied also to other species of Apium, and allied genera, as parsley.
| c 1300 in Wright Lyric P. 26 The primerole he passeth, the parvenke of pris, With alisaundre thare-to, ache ant anys. 1502 Arnold Chron. 172 Also ete fenel sede corny and ache. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 24 As for the garden Ach, commonly called Parsely, there be many kinds thereof. 1865 Pop. Sc. Rev. IV. 199 Celery..having been formerly called Ache in England which is in fact its true English name. |
▪ IV. ache, n.3
(eɪtʃ)
Name of the letter H, q.v.
| 1599 [see ache n.1]. 1623 Minsheu Span. Gram. 6, H. This letter..is called in the Spanish as in the English Ache. |
▪ V. ache
obs. form of age, and of ash (tree).