▪ I. raddle, n.1 Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈræd(ə)l)
Also 6 radel(l, -yll, 8 roddle, 8–9 ruddle.
[a. AF. reidele (Wright Vocab. 168), OF. reddalle, ridelle, rudelle (14th c. in Du Cange) a stout stick or pole, the rail of a cart (so mod.F. ridelle), of obscure origin.]
1. † a. The rail of a cart. Obs. rare—0.
| 1530 Palsgr. 260/2 Radyll of a carte, costee. |
b. north. dial. and U.S. A wooden bar with upright pegs, used to keep the threads of the warp in place while it is being wound upon the beam.
| 1848 in Worcester. 1883 Almondbury Gloss. |
2. A slender rod, wattle, or lath, fastened to or twisted between upright stakes or posts to form a fence, partition, or wall (in the latter case usually plastered over with clay, whence the phr. raddle and daub or dab, applied to walls or houses made in this way).
| 1577 Harrison England ii. x[ii.] in Holinshed 84 b, The houses of the Brytons were slitely set vppe with a few postes and many radles, the like whereof almost is to be seene in the fenny countries vnto this day. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 233 Small stakes driven into the ground..and interwoven with broom and other raddles. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Raddis-chimney, a chimney made of studs, lathes, or raddles, and covered with lome or lime. 1868 Sussex Gloss. in Hurst Horsham (1889), Ruddles, long supple sticks of greenwood interwoven between upright sticks to make a hedge. 1869– In dial. glossaries (Lanc., Chesh., Som.). |
| attrib. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Raddle-hedge. 1736 Lewis Hist. Thanet Gloss., Ruddle-wattle, a hurl made of small hazle-rods, interwoven. 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Observ. 167 A live roddle Hedge..is, perhaps, the Ultimate of Farm hedge-making. 1785 Hutton Bran New Wark (E.D.S.) 372 The girl unsneck'd the raddle heck. 1786–1805 H. Tooke Purley (1829) II. 258 A raddle hedge, is a hedge of pleached or plashed or twisted or wreathed twigs or boughs. |
3. A piece of wattled work; a hurdle, door, hedge, etc. made with intertwined raddles.
| 1886 Cheshire Gloss. s.v., Long sticks were wound together between the timber, forming a sort of basket-work or raddle. 1892 J. Lucas tr. Kalm's England 398 In only a few places were there any ‘Raddles’, or wooden hurdles. |
▪ II. raddle, n.2
(ˈræd(ə)l)
Also 6 radel, raddell, 7–8 radle.
[var. ruddle, q.v.: cf. also reddle.]
1. Red ochre, ruddle.
| 1523 [see raddle-mark below]. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 16 b, Stone, marble, sande, gravell, raddell, chalke, &c. 1631 J. Burges Answ. Rejoined, Lawfuln. Kneeling 21 The raddle doth signifie more then the brand alone. 1699 T. Brown in R. L'Estrange Colloq. Erasm. (1711) 402 To revive the decay'd Red and White in their cheeks with raddle and chalk. 1757 Dyer Fleece i. 321 See that thy scrip have store of..marking pitch and raddle. 1805 Dickson Pract. Agric. (1807) I. 360 note, Raddle..has lately been used with advantage on some lands. 1853 Landor Last Fruits, Let. Wiseman vi. 194 He would whistle the sheep into the ancient fold, marking them with his raddle. |
| transf. 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1891) 83 ‘Nod glas’ which in Englishe is blewe radle or blewe markinge stone. |
b. A coarse red layer. nonce-use.
| 1860 Thackeray Round. Papers xxxii, To hide..a yellow cheek behind a raddle of rouge. |
2. attrib. and Comb., as raddle-ground, raddle-mark; raddle-red adj.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §52 Se that they [the sheep] be well marked, both eare-marke, pitche-marke, and radel-marke. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 18 A raddell and a stonie grounde is discerned by the eye. 1897 Contemp. Rev. June 765 The then new and raddle-red penny postage stamps. |
▪ III. ˈraddle, n.3
variant of rabble n.2
| 1875 in Knight Dict. Mech. |
▪ IV. raddle, v.1
(ˈræd(ə)l)
Also 6 rathel.
[f. raddle n.1]
trans. To weave or twist together (like raddles), to intertwine, interlace.
| 1671 St. Foine Improved 18 To wrap or wreath or raddle the spiks or teeth of the Harrow. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. v, They came at last to build up their Huts..very handsomely; raddling or working it up like Basket-work all the way round. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. I j b, They are made of Boards or of Sticks radled together. 1824 in Craven Dialect. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., To raddle, to interlace; as in making boat's gripes and flat gaskets. 1869– In dial. glossaries (Yks., Lanc., Som.). |
Hence ˈraddled ppl. a.1
| 1562 Withals Dict. 41 b/1 A hartheled wall, or ratheled..paries craticius. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Raddled, wrought or painted in a zigzag pattern. |
▪ V. raddle, v.2
(ˈræd(ə)l)
[f. raddle n.2]
trans. To paint or mark with raddle; to colour coarsely with red or rouge.
| 1631 J. Burges Answ. Rejoined, Lawfuln. Kneeling 21 Hee that beside a pitch-brande, doth raddle the heads of his fat sheepe, doth more then marke them. 1848 Thackeray Lett. 1 Nov., A chief raddled over with war-paint. 1879 Sala Paris herself again (1880) I. viii. 120 They do not even go so far as to raddle themselves. Rouge is apparently too dear. 1966 J. F. H. Thomas Sheep Farming Today v. 57 Recently there has been introduced a breast harness device which holds a colour marking crayon on rams in lieu of raddling their breast wool with colour. |
Hence ˈraddled ppl. a.2 (also fig., worn, worn out).
| 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iv. §7 (1700) 35 Perhaps within an Hour again the bright ones will be taken, and the radled Worms refused. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes xx, Those whitened and raddled old women. 1901 W. Barry Wizard's Knot vii. 74 Raddled like scabby sheep with red paint. 1922 Galsworthy In Chancery ii. vii. 621 An ‘old Johnny’ in a gown and long wig, looking awfully like a funny raddled woman, came through a door. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 96 Outside them and through them ran raddled sheep bleating their fear. 1969 Listener 30 Jan. 156/2 Ruth Gordon's Minnie might be a typical New York eccentric, a raddled Carmen Miranda. 1975 Nature 28 Aug. 738/2 They were all kept in identical conditions of housing and management, and oestrus was detected by raddled vasectomised rams at 0900 daily. 1978 Time 3 July 10/3 By day she rests, and her face, without makeup, softens but still retains the raddled quality of hard living. |
▪ VI. raddle, v.3 north. dial.
(ˈræd(ə)l)
[Perh. f. raddle n.1 (as if = to beat with a raddle).]
trans. To beat, thrash.
| 1688 Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia ii. i, I'st raddle the bones o' thee. 1818 Scott Rob Roy vii, I'se raddle Dick the miller's bones for him. 1855 Bon Gaultier Ballads 171 Raddle him well, till he roar again. |