dwale
verbEtymology From Middle English dwalen, from Old English dwalian, from Proto-Germanic *dwalōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwelH- (“to make turbid”).
1
Dialectal To mutter deliriously.
dwale
noun/dweɪl/
Etymology From Middle English dwale (“stupor; deception; delusion, evil”), from Old English dwala, dwola (“error, heresy; doubt; madman, deceiver, heretic”) and Old Norse dvala (“sleep, stupor”).
1
Belladonna or a similar soporific plant.
- Beneath and around the clumps of ragged moss-grown elder and hoary stunted whitethorn (...) rise thickets of tall nettles and rank hemlock, concealing the deadly but alluring dwale —1842, J. van Voorst, The Phytologist, page 595:
- All parts of the dwale are poisonous, said to resemble snake bite, but the roots are said to be four or five times as virulent as the rest of the plant.1934, Chambers's Journal, page 198:
2 more examples
- It was not bog myrtle at all, it was dwale.2014, Jenny Harper, Face the Wind and Fly:
- Monkshood and dwale belong to Hecate, the moon goddess of the witches, and by their use are witches able to fly.2014, Karen Maitland, The Vanishing Witch:
2
Archaic A sleeping-potion, especially one made from belladonna.
- The authors studied the ingredients and method of administration to try to ascertain whether dwale was effective, and they found it certainly could have worked.2007, Barbara S. Bowers, The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice, page 197:
- 'That is all?' Payne askes. 'You need no salve? No dwale?'2016, Toby Clements, Broken Faith, page 258:
2 more examples
- Dwale was a solution of wine mixed with a number of other ingredients, Some were pretty mile, like lettuce and boar bile. But the recipe also called for hemlock and belladonna, both known to be highly poisonous.2018, The World of Lore, Volume 3, The World of Lore, Volume 3:
- Cadell agrees the vial contains arsenic, not willow bark, and it is no wonder Rollo found relief from what was in the flask since it isn't wine but dwale.2020, Sarah Woodbury, Chevalier:
3
Dialectal A torpor.
- He's in a dwale, a dead sleep; a common expression in the North of England.1874, Charles Mackay, The Lost Beauties of the English Language, page 54:
- I stayed up there in a dwale – not seeing, not even thinking – until suddenly the wind got up and its chill woke me.2008, Mary Leared, A Horseshoe Clown, page 44:
4
A bugbear.
- Consume us; shake the darkness like a tree, And fill the night with mischiefs, — blights and dwales, Weevils, and rots, and cankers!1856, Sydney Dobell, England in Time of War - Issue 34, page 72:
- Tickle under their chins microscopical djinns or tease geloscopical dwales who live in The Tree That Can Never Be and fish for chocolate whales?1981, Alexander Theroux, Darconville's Cat, page 384: