Forms: 1 eʓl-an, 2 eȝl-en (Orm. eȝȝl-enn), 2–3 eil-en, eil-e, 4–5 (eale), eyl(en, eil(en, eil(e, 4–6 eyl(e, 5–7 ayle, aile, 4– ail. [OE. eʓl-an cogn. w. Goth. aglj-an; f. eʓle, *agljo-: see prec.]
† 1. trans. To trouble, afflict. Obs. rare.
c. 940. Sax. Leechd., II. 122. Wið wyrmum þe innan eglað.
a. 1000. Judith, xi. 64. Ðæt he mid lǽððum ús eʓlan móste.
1352. Minot, Poems, viii. 41. Schent war tho schrewes And ailed unsele.
2. impers. To trouble, afflict, affect unusually. (Now restricted to interrog., rel., and indef. sentences, as What ails you? If anything ailed me.)
a. physically.
1086. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1086 (Earle 220). Him ȝeyfelade, and ꝥ him stranglice eʓlade.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 276. Nu a uleih mei eilen þe, & makien þe to blenchen.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 121. Such seknes vs eileþ.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., 68. Maister, what eileth the, thou art lepre?
c. 1450. Merlin, 52. He myght wele a-rise, for hym eyleth noon evell.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxiv. 5. What ayled the (o thou see) that thou fleddest? [1611 ailed; Wyclif, What was to thee.]
1722. De Foe, Plague, 184. Some have sent for physicians to know what ailed them.
1850. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxiv. 231. ‘I don’t see as anything ails the child,’ she would say.
b. mentally. (mod. Sc. What ails you at me? = What cause of dissatisfaction have you with me?)
c. 1090. L. St. Edm., Proœm. Me e[ʓ]leþ swyðe.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4766. Bilammp himm oþerr wa þatt mare mihht himm eȝȝlenn.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20301. Leuedi quat ails te.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 386/1. And demaunded hym what hym eyled and why he sorowed.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. xi. 5. What ayleth the people that they wepe? [1611 aileth; Wyclif, What hath the puple.]
1690. W. Walker, Idioms, Ang.-Lat., 18. What ails you to be sad?
a. 1842. Tennyson, Miller’s Dau., xii. My mother thought, What ails the boy? For I was alter’d, and began To move about the house with joy.
† 3. impers. To interfere with, obstruct, prevent.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1560. ‘Sir duk,’ quaþ Rolond, ‘what eyleþ þe; þer ne buþ noȝt xxxti þare.’
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., Eylyn, Obsto.
c. 1440. Generydes, 3411. What aylith the to fight?
1563. Man, Masculus Com. Pl., 286 b. What eyleth it [quid impedit] but by the same reason he should be baptised.
4. intr. (By mistaking the personal obj., which in early times usually preceded the impersonal vb. for the subj.) To have something the matter with one.
a. physically: To be ill, to be indisposed.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxxv. 131. And wyth a gud will and a stowte He sayd, þat he wald ayl na-thyng.
c. 1450. Merlin, 3. Know ye ought what thise bestes eiled thus for to dye?
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. iv. 6. If she be very well, what does she ail, that she’s not very well?
1702. Pryme, in Phil. Trans., XXIII. 1076. I know not what I ail, says he, I cannot swallow any Beer.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 78. And when he ails ever so little … he is so peevish.
1869. Pall Mall G., 18 Aug., 4/2. No wonder, the Lancet says, that diarrhœa has prevailed, and that the children ail.
† b. mentally: To be in trouble; to be affected by. Obs. or dial. (mod. Sc. To ail at, as in 2 b.)
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3809. Ȝet he aȝlen on here red.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxix. (1877), 586. Whan Merlin … herde hem make soche doell he asked hem what thei eiled.
a. 1528. Skelton, Magnyfyc., 2393. For who loueth God can ayle nothynge but good.
1635. Quarles, Embl., II. v. (1718), 82. Thou ask’st the Conscience what she ails.
1714. Ellwood, Autobiog., 20. I knew not what I ayled, but I knew I ayled something more than ordinary: and my Heart was very heavy.
c. 1817. Hogg, Tales & Sk., III. 191. ‘What can the fool mean?’ said old Richard, ‘What can he ail at the dogs?’
