addle

• POS: Adjective, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: ad=dle

CIDE DICTIONARY

addle, n. [OE. adel, AS. adela, mud.].

•  Liquid filth; mire.  [1913 Webster]
•  Lees; dregs.  Wright.  [1913 Webster]

addle, a. 

 Having lost the power of development, and become rotten, as eggs; putrid. Hence: Unfruitful or confused, as brains; muddled.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

addle, v. t. & i. 

 To make addle; to grow addle; to muddle; as, he addled his brain.  Cowper.  [1913 Webster]

addle, v. t. & i. [OE. adlen, adilen, to gain, acquire; prob. fr. Icel. ö&edh;lask to acquire property, akin to o&edh;al property. Cf. Allodial.].

•  To earn by labor.  Forby.  [1913 Webster]
•  To thrive or grow; to ripen.  [1913 Webster]

  "Kill ivy, else tree will addle no more."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

addle, v. & adj.
--v.
1 tr. muddle, confuse.
2 intr. (of an egg) become addled.
--adj.
1 muddled, unsound (addle-brained; addle-head).
2 empty, vain.
3 (of an egg) addled.

Etymology

OE adela filth, used as adj., then as verb

THESAURUS

addle

addle the wits, amaze, astound, baffle, ball up, bamboozle, beat, becloud, bedazzle, befuddle, bemuse, besot, bewilder, boggle, bother, buffalo, bug, cloud, confound, confuse, daze, dazzle, discombobulate, discomfit, discompose, disconcert, disorganize, disorient, distract, disturb, dumbfound, embarrass, entangle, flabbergast, floor, flummox, flurry, fluster, flutter, fog, fuddle, fuss, get, inebriate, intoxicate, keep in suspense, lick, maze, mist, mix up, moider, muddle, mystify, nonplus, perplex, perturb, pother, put out, puzzle, raise hell, rattle, ruffle, stick, stump, throw, throw into confusion, throw off, unsettle, upset

ROGET THESAURUS

addle

Noncompletion

N noncompletion, nonfulfillment, shortcoming, incompleteness, drawn battle, drawn game, work of Penelope, nonperformance, inexecution, neglect, not completed, incomplete, uncompleted, unfinished, unaccomplished, unperformed, unexecuted, sketchy, addle, in progress, in hand, ongoing, going on, proceeding, on one's hands, on the anvil, in the fire, in the oven, parboiled, half-baked, re infecta.

Failure

N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.

Unproductiveness

VB be unproductive, hang fire, flash in the pan, come to nothing, sterilize, addle, disable, inactivate.