addled, ppl. a.
(ˈæd(ə)ld)
[f. addle v.1 +-ed. But, as it seems to have existed before the verb, it was perhaps originally, like newfangled, etc., an assimilation of the adj. to the participial form.]
Become or made addle, as an egg, or brain.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. vi. 194 Eggs, wherof the sound ones sink, and such as are addled swim; as do also those that are termed hypanemiae, or wind eggs. 1712 W. Rogers Voyage (1718) 276 They found the [turtle's] eggs addled in less than twelve hours, and in about twelve more they had young ones in them completely shaped and alive. 1732 Fielding Cov. Gard. Trag. ii. xii. Wks. 1784 II. 330 My muddy brain is addled like an egg. 1868 Geo. Eliot F. Holt 24 Things don't happen because they're bad or good, else all eggs would be addled or none at all. |