addle

Etymology 1

From Middle English addlen, adlen, from Old English edlēan (“reward, pay-back”), edlēanian (“to reward, recompense”); or from or cognate with Old Norse ǫðlask (“to gain possession of property”), from ōðal (“owndom, property”).

verb

1. (provincial, Northern England) To earn, earn by labor; earn money or one's living.
   ADDLINGS, wages. "Poor addlings," small pay for work. "Hard addlings," money laboriously acquired. "Saving's good addling," as the well known saying, "a penny saved is a penny gained." 1855, "An inhabitant" [pseudonym; Francis Kildale Robinson], A Glossary of Yorkshire Words and Phrases, Collected in Whitby and the Neighbourhood. With Examples of their Colloquial Use, and Allusions to Local Customs and Traditions, London: John Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square, →OCLC, page 2
   ADDLE. To earn. "It's weel-addled" – well-earned. "Addle nowt an' ware at t' end on 't, an' tha'll soin ha' to leuk raand t' corners." – Earn nothing and spend hard, and you'll soon come to poverty. 1862, anonymous [C. Clough Robinson], The Dialect of Leeds and Its Neighbourhood, London: John Russell Smith, page 233
2. (provincial, Northern England) To thrive or grow; to ripen.

Etymology 2

From Middle English adel (“rotten”), from Old English adel, adela (“mire, pool, liquid excrement”), from Proto-West Germanic *adal, from from Proto-Germanic *adalaz, *adalô (“cattle urine, liquid manure”). Akin to Scots adill, North Frisian ethel (“urine”), Saterland Frisian adel "dung", Middle Low German adele "mud, liquid manure" (Dutch aal "puddle"), Old Swedish adel "urine", Bavarian Adel (“liquid manure”).

adj

1. Having lost the power of development, and become rotten; putrid.
   addle eggs
2. (by extension) Unfruitful or confused; muddled.
   addle brains
   Thus far the poet; but his brains grow addle, (prologue)

noun

1. (obsolete) Liquid filth; mire.

verb

1. To make addle; to grow addle; to muddle.
   Their eggs were addled. 1782, William Cowper, Pairing Time Anticipated
   [Niccolò] Machiavelli had received an early lesson in the value of addling men's brains. […] [A] talent for addling men's brains is part of the armoury of any successful prince […] . 2000, Quentin Skinner, “The Adviser to Princes”, in Nigel Warburton; Jon Pike; Derek Matravers, Reading Political Philosophy: Machiavelli to Mill, Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge in association with The Open University, 978-0-415-21196-3, page 30
2. To cause fertilised eggs to lose viability, by killing the developing embryo within through shaking, piercing, freezing or oiling, without breaking the shell.
   The term shocking or addling trout and salmon eggs is applied to the process of turning the infertile eggs white so they can be separated from the fertile ones. Actually, this amounts to nothing more than agitating the eggs enough to rupture the yolk membrane in the infertile eggs, which causes them to turn white. 1980, Earl Leitritz, Robert C[onklin] Lewis, Trout and Salmon Culture (Hatchery Methods) [California Fish Bulletin; 164], Oakland, Calif.: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, page 61

noun

1. A foolish or dull-witted fellow.