Obs. Forms: (1 þelu, þel, þell), 6 thele, thel, theall, 7 (9 dial.) theal. [In 16th c. thele, corresp. to OE. -þelu fem. occurring in comb. bencþelu (also neuter pl.) ‘bench-floor,’ and buruhþeiu ‘castle-floor,’ agreeing in sense with þel, þell, neut., board, plank, floor, in one place ‘(iron) plate.’ These point to OTeut. forms *þelâ fem., *þelom neuter, whence also *þeljon, þiljōn, WGer. *þilljō, OE. þille, ON. þilja fem. deal, plank, OHG. dilla board, MLG. dele, Du. deel deal, plank: cf. also the Finnish borrowed word teljo. The long gap between the latest OE. example of -þelu and the Eng. thele, after 1500, is noteworthy; perh. the word came down within a limited district. Cf. the place-name Þelwæl (O. E. Chron., an. 923), Thelwall in Cheshire.]
1. (OE.) A floor.
Beowulf, 487. Eal benc-þelu blode bestymed. [Cf. Ibid., 1239 Benc-belu beredon: hit ʓeond-bræded wearð beddum ond bolstrum.]
a. 1000. Fight at Finnesburg, 30. Buruhðelu dynede.
2. A board, plank, deal. Cf. DEAL sb.3
1517. in Market Harborough Rec. (1890), 220. I wyll yt Richard Page … shall have a lede, a mawnger, a rake and thelys, beynge at ye sygne of Swanne in Harborow.
1521. Nottingham Rec., III. 355. Item anoyer pres borde and a thele yat ley at the kychyn dore.
1562. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 110. For thele to mende the churche dore.
1586. Churchw. Acc. St. Martin, Leicester, in N. & Q., 6th Ser. VII. 249/2. Too plancke and too thels [for the library].
1618. in Archæologia, XLIV. 402. Item 4 greate theales of 30 foot a piece 3 foot 3 inches broad and three inches thicke.
1624. Althorp MS., in Simpkinson, Washingtons, App. p. lvii. Aug. 7. To Butlin 3 daies sawing theales, & 2 daies making a dore for Mris Segrave’s house 00 05 00.
1847–78. Halliwell, Theal, a board; a plank; a joist. Leic.
