[f. ADDLE a.; cf. to sour, to wet, to cool, etc.]
1. trans. To make addle; to muddle; to confuse (the brain); to spoil, make abortive.
c. 1712. Otway, C. Marius, II. ii. One bottle to his Lady’s health quite addles him.
1841. Dickens, Lett. (ed. 2), I. 43. I have addled my head with writing all day. Ibid. (1849), B. Rudge (1866), I. x. 50. He addled … his brain by shaking his head.
1878. Simpson, Sch. Shaks., I. 97. His cold procrastination addled the victory of Lepanto, as it had formerly addled that of St. Quentin.
2. intr. To grow addle (as an egg); also fig.
1812–21. Combe, Dr. Syntax, XI. (Chandos), 42. Though his courage ’gan to addle, He still stuck close upon his saddle.
1829. Southey, Pilgr. Compost., IV. Wks. VII. 266. Not one of these eggs ever addled.
1857. H. Miller, Test. Rocks, viii. 337. For in still water, however pure, the eggs in a few weeks addle and die.
