▪ I. adle
obs. or dial. form of addle.
▪ II. † ˈadle Obs.
Forms: 1 ádl. North. 3 adle.
[from same root as ad burning, hence orig. inflammation, fever. It does not seem to have survived the 12th c. in southern Eng., where it would have become odle. Not connected with addle in addle-egg.]
Sickness, disease.
| c 1000 Ags. Gospels Matt. x. 1 And hældun ádle, and ælce untrumnysse. c 1160 Hatt. Gosp. ibid., And helden adle, & ælche untrumnysse. c 1200 Ormulum 4803 Onn all hiss bodiᵹ her & tær Þurrh an full atell adle. |