▪ I. † dwale, n.1 and a. Obs.
Forms: α. 1 dweola, dwola, dwala, 3 dwole, dwale, 3–4 duale.
[In sense 1, a variant of dwele n., = OE. *dwela, dweola, dwola, dwala, error, heresy, madness; in sense 2 app. aphetic for OE. ᵹedweola, -dwola, etc. error, heresy, madness, also heretic, deceiver; f. ablaut-series dwel-, dwal-, dwol-: see dwell v. Cf. OE. dwol- in comb. ‘erring, heretical’, and Goth. dwals ‘foolish’.]
1. Error, delusion; deceit, fraud.
| [c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. xii. [xv.] (1890) 142 Seo mæᵹd þreo ᵹear in ᵹedwolan wæs lifiende.] c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 64 And bið ðin hlætmesto duola wyrse from ærra. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. vi. 24 Ne maᵹun ᵹe gode ðeowiᵹe & dwale. a 1250 Owl & Night. 823 Ȝif the vox mist of al this dwole, At than ende he cropth to hole. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4055 Wið win, and wlite, & bodi, & dwale. a 1300 Cursor M. 12841 Þe godds lamb, þan clenge sale Þis wreched werld fra sinful duale. Ibid. 14197 Qua walkes on nightertale O dreching oft he findes duale. |
2. Heretic, deceiver, transgressor.
| [c 1000 ælfric Hom. (Th.) I. 290 Þa forwearð eac þes ᵹedwola mid his ᵹedwylde. c 1000 Blickl. Hom. 7 Þone ealdan ᵹedwolan (= Satan).] c 1200 Ormin 7454 Off all þiss laþe læredd follc..Wass maȝȝstredwale, an defless þeww, Þat Arriuss wass nemmnedd. a 1250 Prov. ælfred 414 in O.E. Misc. 126 Ne myd manyes cunnes tales; ne chid þu wiþ nenne dwales. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1220 Til god him bad is wiues tale Listen, and don a-wei ðat dwale. Ibid. 3404 Ietro listnede moyses tale, Of him and pharaon ðe dwale. |
3. attrib. or adj. Heretical, perverse.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 20 Lucifer, ðat deuel dwale. |
4. Comb., as dwal-kenned a., heretical.
| c 1200 Ormin 7441 Þatt þurrh dwallkennde lare Tahhtenn & turrndenn lawedd follc To lefenn wrang o Criste. |
▪ II. dwale, n.2
(dweɪl)
Also 6–7 dwall, 7 dwaile.
[prob. from Scandinavian: cf. ON. dvöl, dvalar, delay, dvali (Haldors.) delay, sleep, Sw. dvala trance, Da. dvale dead sleep, trance, torpor, dvaledrik soporiferous draught, dvalebær narcotic berry; from same root as dwale n.1]
† 1. A stupefying or soporific drink. Obs. (Prob. in many instances, the juice or infusion of Belladonna: see 2.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26323 (Cott.) Lech þat suld.. giue him for to drinc duale. c 1340 Ibid. 17708 (Trin.) Þei fel as þei had dronken dwale. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 241 Hem neded no dwale. This Millere hath so wisely bibbed Ale. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxiii. 379 The frere with his fisik þis folke haþ enchaunted, And doþ men drynke dwale. c 1480 Crt. of Love 998 Aryse anon, quod she, whate? have ye dronken dwale? 1585 Lupton Thous. Notable Th. (1675) 73 Dwale..makes one to sleep while he is cut, or burned by cauterizing. 1606 Breton Ourania M ij, As one receiving Opium or Dwall, Deprived of vital sence doth deadly fall. |
2. The Deadly Nightshade, Atropa Belladonna.
In early use sometimes applied to a species of Winter Cherry (Physalis somnifera), and perhaps to other plants of similar properties.
| 14.. Receipts in Rel. Ant. I. 324 For to take alle maner of byrdys..take juse of dwale and menche the corne theryn; and ley yt ther the byrdes hawnten, and wher they have eten therof, they shalle slepe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 134/1 Dwale, herbe, morella sompnifera, vel mortifera. 1538 Turner Libellus, Dwale, Solanum soporiferum. 1552 Huloet, Dwale, herbe hauynge a redde berrye within a bladder lyke a cherye, alkakengi. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. li. §1. 269 Dwale or sleeping nightshade hath round blackish stalks sixe foote high. 1608 R. Johnson Seven Champ. ii. M iv, As heavy a sleepe as if they had drunke the juyce of dwaile or the seede of poppie. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 71 Dwale, or Deadly Nightshade. |
† 3. In Her. sometimes used for sable. Obs.
| 1562 Leigh Armorie (1597) 100 b, For Azure, perwinke: for Sable, dwale. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Dwale, or dwal in heraldry..used by such as blazon with flowers and herbs, instead of colours and metals, for sable, or black. |