Definition of "addle"

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, 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

Kill ivy, or else tree will addle no more.

1557 February 13, Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie., London: […] Richard Tottel; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810,

Thus far the poet; but his brains grow addle,

1690, [John] Dryden, Don Sebastian, King of Portugal: […], London: […] Jo. Hindmarsh, […], (please specify the page number)

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

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 with Robert C[onklin] Lewis, Trout and Salmon Culture (Hatchery Methods) , Oakland, Calif.: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, page 61