▪ I. † aˈllege, v.1 Obs.
Also 4–5 alegge, allege, 4–6 allegge, 5 alledge, 6 alege.
[a. OFr. alege-r, alegier (14th c. alléger):—L. alleviā-re to lighten, f. al- = ad- to + levis light. Cf. Pr. aleujar, It. alleggiare, and L. abbreviare, Fr. abréger: see abridge.]
1. To lighten (one) of any burden.
| c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 3894 Pardon..sal þam avail, To allege þair saules of payne. c 1450 Lydg. Mass Bk. (1879) 394 Ffor to alleggen the wery lemys of her grete berthene. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 266/3 He felte hym a lytell alledged and eased of his payne. |
2. To lighten, alleviate, diminish (a burden, grief, pain); or to abridge the duration of a trouble.
| 1382 Wyclif Is. ix. i. The firste tyme is aleggid, or maad liȝt, the lond of Zabulon. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. VII. 195, I pray ȝow now þat ȝe allegge [allevietis] my tourmentes. c 1400 Rom. Rose 2588, I wolde this thought wolde come ageyne, For it alleggith welle my peyne. 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. v. 18 They setted not of mete and drynke, but for talegge their hungre and thurste. 1530 Palsgr. 420/2, I alege, I lyghten or comforte. Je alege; I allevyate, I make lyght the mynde or body. Je allege. |
¶ In this sense now represented by allay v.1 The infinitive and certain other parts of these two vbs. were formally identical in ME., and when aleggen, :—OE. alecᵹan, was levelled to aleye, allay (as explained under that vb.), this was also substituted for aleggen = OFr. alegier, giving the modern ‘to allay hunger, pain, grief, fear’: see allay v.1 II. Spenser has alegge as an archaism for allay:
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar., The joyous time now nigheth fast, That shall alegge this bitter blast. |
▪ II. allege, v.2
(əˈlɛdʒ)
Forms: 3–5 alegg-e, aleg-e, 4–6 allegge, 5–9 alledge, 5–6 adledge, 6–7 alledg, aleage, alleage, alleadg, alleadge, 4– allege.
[Though allege answers exactly in sense to L. allēgāre and its Fr. adaptation alléguer, its soft g (dʒ) shows that it is not an adoption of this, which would have given alleague. But there was an OFr. esligier:—late L. *exlītigāre to clear at law, of which the Norm. form was aligier, alegier. This was latinized in England, as adlēgiāre, a word in regular use in the laws of the Norman kings (see Du Cange); and this adlēgiāre (as if f. ad lēgem) was evidently treated also as the equivalent of aleier (as if f. a lei), the true OFr. descendant of L. allēgāre (see allay v.3). Hence, in later AFr., alegier (aleger, alegger), and its Eng. adoption alege, allege, though formally descended from exlītigare, were used as = L. allēgāre. (Cf. the technical use of the latter in Roman Law, in ‘adlēgāre sē ex servitūte in ingenuitātem,’ to release oneself..by adducing reasons.) As in Fr. the forensic alléguer supplanted the popular aleier, so in Eng. allege took the place of allay v.3
Connexion of alegier (:—*exlītigare), aleier (:—allēgāre), adlegiāre, and alegge, allege:
Tristan I. 3217 (Michel), Se devant lui sui alegie, Qui me voudroit ares sordire? Laws of Wm. I, xxxix. §1 (Schmid) Seit en la forfaiture le rei de xl sols, s'il ne pot aleier [Lat. nisi purgare se possit] que plus dreit faire nel sout. Ibid. ii. i, Francigena compellatus adlegiet se in jure jurando [OE. láðiᵹe hine mid áðe] contra eum. 13 Rich. II, ii. i, Si la chartre de mort de homme soit alegge devant qiconques Justices. Early transl. If a charter of the death of a man be alleadged before any justices.]
1. To declare upon oath before a tribunal, to give testimony for or against; hence, to bring forward as a legal ground or plea, to plead. Obs. exc. fig.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 702 For-þy to corte quen þou schal com..Þer alle oure causeȝ schal be tryed, Alegge þe ryȝt. c 1330 Florice & Bl. 689 Ȝif thai ought aȝein wil allegge Hit uer nowt right jugement Withouten answere to acoupement. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle i. ii. (1483) 3 Yf thou canst ought alledgen · that may be ageynst hym · come byfore the Juge. 1540 T. Cromwell in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. II. 170, I haue no merits or good works which I may alledge before thee. 1605 Thynne in Animadv. App. 112 The arguments alledged agaynst Him by the Advocate. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 293 ¶1 It was alledged against him that he had never any Success in his Undertakings. 1773 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 421 All the arguments he alleges for his safety. |
b. with clause.
| c 1300 Beket 1396 And bad him answere for hir stat: and aleggi for him hou hit were. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxxiii. 13072 Þan alleggit the lede to the leue prinses, All þe dere þat he did..Was barly by biddyng of his bright goddes. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 201 The Clerk holdeth him to his Clergy, alleadging that he ought not before them thereupon to answer. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 256 ¶1 The Prosecutor alledged, That he was the Cadet of a very ancient Family. 1779 Johnson K. Prussia Wks. 1787 IV. 542 Alledges that his predecessors had enjoyed this grant above a century. |
† c. absol. Obs.
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 165 And yf we wolle thus alegge ayenste þe devil. 1628 Hobbes Thucydides (1822) 67 They alleged much to haue him, yet he deliuerd him not. |
2. To cite, quote (an author or his authority) for or against. arch.
| 1366 Mandeville x. 119 Thei knowen alle the Bible, and the Psautere: and therfore Allegge thei so the Lettre. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 314 Non other auttour a-legge I. c 1386 ― Merch. T. 414 And for he wolde his longe tale abregge He wolde noon auctoritee allegge [v.r. alegge]. c 1440 Gesta Rom. 33 And allege holy scripturis aȝenst synnerys. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 209/2 To whom I aunswered..aleaging Saint Augustine for mee. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle iii. 885, I can alleadge mine author for it. 1653 Milton Hirelings 59 With what face or conscience can they alleage Moses..for tithes? 1724 A. Collins Gr. Chr. Relig., To alledge the passages of the Old Testament. 1878 R. W. Dale Lect. Preaching v. 118 The greatest names can sometimes be alleged for opinions which are incredible. |
3. Hence gen. To plead as an excuse; to adduce or urge as reason.
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 56 Whenne þe wise man saw þat, he gan to alegge resons. 1519 R. Pace in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 56 I. 157 The Electors speke agaynst hym and allege reasons whye he schulde nott be electidde. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 107 b, He adledged certen causes, why it ought so to be. 1598 Yong Diana 209, I alleaged some excuses to the contrary. 1660 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. iii. 16 Tertullian alleadgeth another reason. 1762 Goldsm. Nash 213 Refused to lend a farthing, alledging a former resolution against lending. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. ix. 344 Sparta did not draw the sword till she had injuries and insults to alledge. |
b. with clause.
| 1600 Hakluyt Voy. III, Alleadging how much it would be for our credite and profite. 1622 Wither Philarete (1633) 688 Were she Vaine, she might alledge, 'Twere her Sexes priviledge. 1741 Betterton in Oldys Eng. Stage ii. 27 Alledging the greater the Temptation, the greater the Glory to resist. 1878 Seeley Stein II. 450 England would give nothing beyond arms and ammunition, alleging that her Spanish enterprise occupied her wholly. |
4. To advance (a statement) as being able to prove it; hence, to assert without proof; to affirm, predicate.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 88 Þei wol allegen also, quod I, and by þe gospel preuen [it]. 1494 Fabyan v. xcv. 69 But Policronica alledgyth y{supt} honour vnto Vter Pendragon his brother. 1586 T. B. tr. La Primaudaye's Fr. Acad. ii. (1594) 27 Wee must not therefore alleadge anie imperfection in the creation of the woman. 1676 Clarendon Surv. Leviathan 145 Who..will ever venture to alledg any matter of fact that he is not sure of? 1690 Locke Hum. Underst. ii. i. (ed. 3) 44 But Men in love with their Opinions, may not only suppose what is in question, but alledge wrong matter of fact. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. xlviii. 29 Where much is alleged, something must be true. 1879 H. Spencer Data of Eth. ii. §5. 15 In neither case can conduct be alleged. |
b. with clause.
| 1330 R. Brunne 247 The kyng alegid thei were of his tresour. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. vi. viii. 673 Ðe mwnkys..Allegyd þat þat electyoun Fell to þame. 1551 Turner Herbal ii. 37 Some..alledge..that Cypros is the tre which is called in Italy Ligustrum. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 267 ¶1 Those who alledge it is not an Heroick Poem. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 27 He alleges that there are several elementary bodies. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. §27. 379 It has since been alleged that ours was unnecessary labour. |
▪ III. † aˈllege, v.3 Obs.
Form: 4 alegge.
[ad. L. allēgā-re to dispatch to, f. ad- = al- to + lēgāre to dispatch, send.]
In the phr. to allege prayer (= L. allēgāre preces): to address prayer.
| 1382 Wyclif Wisd. xviii. 21 A man..bi encens preȝing aleggyng, withstod to the wrathe [1388 He aleggide preier]. |