a. and sb.; also 1 ælren, 3 allerne, 5 alloren. [f. ALDER sb.1 + -EN. Its subst. use is prob. due to comb. like aldern-tree; but there may have been a confusion with ELDER, ELDERN.]

1

  A.  adj. Of alder.

2

1001.  Cod. Dipl., III. 316. To þam ælrenan stobbe.

3

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. 684. The pine tre, and alloren tree … deep under þe grounde dureþ and lesteþ longe tyme.

4

1628.  May, Virg. Georg., I. 8 (J.). Then Aldern boates first plow’d the Ocean.

5

  B.  sb. = ALDER sb.1

6

c. 1250.  W. de Biblesworth, in Wright, Voc., 171. Coupet de aunne (of allerne).

7

1607.  Topsell, Four-footed Beasts (1673), 220. If the right eye of a Hedge-hog be fryed with the oil of Alderne or Linseed, and put in a vessel of red brasse, and afterward anoint his eyes therewith, as with an eye-salve, he shall see as well in the dark as in the light.

8