Crossword clues for addle
addle
- Confuse theologian drink consumes
- Confuse movement of a duck with taking off
- Confuse designated driver tucking into alcoholic drink
- Confuse a clergyman with the French
- Rotten way to ride, clear of sides
- Bad son kicked out of seat
- Dad dancing - extremely liable to confuse!
- Throw up during field day
- Go bad, as an egg
- Throw off one's game
- Throw for a loop
- Throw into confusion
- Totally confuse
- Mentally confused
- Cause confusion
- Totally befuddle
- Really mix up
- Put at sea
- Mix up or confuse
- Make rotten
- Leave totally confused
- Go bad — confuse
- ______ pated
- Confuseor what to do to four common phrases to form this puzzle's theme answers
- Flummox
- Nonplus
- Discombobulate
- Mix up or confuse
- Befuddle
- Dizzy
- Fluster
- Buffalo, so to speak
- Puzzle
- Perplex
- Knock for a loop
- Confound
- Bewilder
- Drive meshuga
- Become rotten
- Muddle or confuse
- Spoil, as an egg
- Make muddled
- Go off seat that's lost its top
- Go bad - confuse
- Make confused — go bad
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Addle \Ad"dle\, n. [OE. adel, AS. adela, mud.]
Liquid filth; mire. [Obs.]
Lees; dregs. [Prov. Eng.]
--Wright.
Addle \Ad"dle\, a.
Having lost the power of development, and become rotten, as
eggs; putrid. Hence: Unfruitful or confused, as brains;
muddled.
--Dryden.
Addle \Ad"dle\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Addled; p. pr. & vb.
n. Addling.]
To make addle; to grow addle; to muddle; as, he addled his
brain. ``Their eggs were addled.''
--Cowper.
Addle \Ad"dle\, v. t. & i. [OE. adlen, adilen, to gain, acquire; prob. fr. Icel. ["o][eth]lask to acquire property, akin to o[eth]al property. Cf. Allodial.]
To earn by labor. [Prov. Eng.]
--Forby.-
To thrive or grow; to ripen. [Prov. Eng.]
Kill ivy, else tree will addle no more.
--Tusser.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1712, from addle (n.) "urine, liquid filth," from Old English adela "mud, mire, liquid manure" (cognate with Old Swedish adel "urine," Middle Low German adel, Dutch aal "puddle").\n
\nUsed in noun phrase addle egg (mid-13c.) "egg that does not hatch, rotten egg," literally "urine egg," a loan-translation of Latin ovum urinum, which is itself an erroneous loan-translation of Greek ourion oon "putrid egg," literally "wind egg," from ourios "of the wind" (confused by Roman writers with ourios "of urine," from ouron "urine"). Because of this usage, from c.1600 the noun in English was taken as an adjective meaning "putrid," and thence given a figurative extension to "empty, vain, idle," also "confused, muddled, unsound" (1706). The verb followed a like course. Related: Addled; addling.
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 vb. 1 (context provincial Northern England English) To earn, earn by labor; earn money or one's living. — ''http://en.wikipedi
-
org/wiki/Forby''. 2 (context provincial Northern England English) To thrive or grow; to ripen. Etymology 2
a. 1 Having lost the power of development, and become rotten, as eggs; putrid. 2 (context by extension English) unfruitful or confused, as brains; muddled. ''http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Dryden''. 3 addled n. 1 (context obsolete English) Liquid filth; mire. 2 (context provincial English) lees; dregs. v
1 To make addle; to grow addle; to muddle; as, he '''addled''' his brain. 2 To cause fertilised eggs to lose viability, by killing the developing embryo within through shaking, piercing, freezing or oiling, without breaking the shell.
WordNet
Usage examples of "addle".
It made Addle feel like he was sorting through her mind, opening up certain ideas and shuffling aside others.
His voice made Addle think of coffee, deep and dark and rich, with a texture that slid between her senses.
But here was Addle, taking him on faith, doing his work toboot--even though, according to Delilah, fate had screwed her over, too.
He and Margaret had closed the diner for a week each summer to take Addle on a family vacation.
From the corner of his eye, Jack saw Courtemanche reach for her, saw Addle back away.
Jack hauled himself to his feet, yanked on his jacket, and for the second time that day left without telling Addle where he was going, or why.
Chloe had been seven the year Addle managed to scrape together enough money to take the two of them to the Caribbean.
Through the ripples of the water Addle could see the sun quivering like the yolk of an egg.
In retrospect, Addle realized that the whole event should have been much more terrifying: breaking into a cemetery near midnight, on an evening when the moon was a great bloodshot eye in the sky.
But he let Addle play the Fates, spinning out the length of the kiss and cutting it when she saw fit.
It seemed impossible that the news had spread so quickly from Wes to filter into this group of customers, but then Addle only had to look as far as herself to know that it had happened before.
But even as Addle thought this, the door opened and Jack slipped inside, intent on making his way to the safety of the kitchen before anyone could speak to him.
Peering out the window, Addle could only see the edge of the swing set, serrated by the moonlight.
Jack let himself into the diner with the key that Addle had given him weeks before, wondering how he could have been so stupid.
Over a bowl of cereal, Addle realized she could quite comfortably spend her life with Jack St.