addle

  1. Verb.  (context, provincial) To earn, earn by labor; earn money or one's living. — ''Forby''.
  2. Verb.  (context, provincial) To thrive or grow; to ripen.
  3. Adjective.  Having lost the power of development, and become rotten, as eggs; putrid.
  4. Adjective.  (by extension) Unfruitful or confused, as brains; muddled. ''John Dryden''.
  5. Adjective.  See addled.
  6. Noun.  (obsolete) Liquid filth; mire.
  7. Noun.  (context, provincial) Lees; dregs. ''Wright''.
  8. Verb.  To make addle; to grow addle; to muddle; as, he '''addled''' his brain.
  9. Verb.  : "Their eggs were '''addled'''." William Cowper.
  10. Verb.  To cause fertilised eggs to lose viability, by killing the developing embryo within through shaking, piercing, freezing or oiling, without breaking the shell.

This is an unmodified, but possibly outdated, definition from Wiktionary and used here under the Creative Commons license. Wiktionary is a great resource. If you like it too, please donate to Wikimedia.

This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.