addlepated

adjective

ad·​dle·​pat·​ed ˈa-dᵊl-ˌpā-təd How to pronounce addlepated (audio)
1
: being mixed up : confused
2

Did you know?

In Middle English an adel eye was a putrid egg. The stench of such an egg apparently affected the minds of some witty thinkers, who hatched a comparison between the diminished, unsound quality of an adel eye (or addle egg as it came to be called in modern English) and an empty, confused head—or pate. "Your owne imagination, which was no lesse Idle, then your head was addle all that day," wrote one 17th-century wit at play with the words idle and addle. Today, addle is often found in combination with words referring to one's noggin, as in addlepated, addlebrained, and addle-headed.

Examples of addlepated in a Sentence

some addlepated clerk had confused our hotel reservation with that of another, similarly named, party

Word History

First Known Use

1614, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of addlepated was in 1614

Podcast

Dictionary Entries Near addlepated

Cite this Entry

“Addlepated.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/addlepated. Accessed 2 Nov. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!