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addled

 - 3 dictionary results

ad⋅dle

  [ad-l] verb, -dled, -dling, adjective
Use addled in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1. to make or become confused.
2. to make or become rotten, as eggs.
–adjective
3. mentally confused; muddled.
4. rotten: addle eggs.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME adel rotten, OE adela liquid, filth; c. MLG adele liquid manure
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To addled
ad·dle   (ād'l)   
v.   ad·dled, ad·dling, ad·dles

v.   tr.
To muddle; confuse: "My brain is a bit addled by whiskey" (Eugene O'Neill). See Synonyms at confuse.
v.   intr.

  1. To become confused.

  2. To become rotten, as an egg.


[From Middle English adel, rotten, from Old English adel, pool of excrement.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

addle  (v.)
1712, from addle (n.) "urine, liquid filth," from O.E. adela "mud, mire, liquid manure" (cognate with O.Swed. adel "urine," M.L.G. adel, Du. aal "puddle"). Used in noun phrase addle egg (c.1250) "egg that does not hatch, rotten egg," lit. "urine egg," a loan-transl. of L. ovum urinum, which is itself an erroneous loan-transl. of Gk. ourion oon "putrid egg," lit. "wind egg," from ourios "of the wind" (confused by Roman writers with ourios "of urine," from ouron "urine"). Because of this usage, the noun in Eng. was taken as an adj. from c.1600, meaning "putrid," and thence given a fig. extension to "empty, vain, idle," also "confused, muddled, unsound" (1706). The verb followed.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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