Obs. [Diminutive of WART: see -LE. Cf. OHG. warzala, Ger. dial. warzel, a wart.] a. A ‘kernel’ in the neck or groin. b. A small wart. c. A hard lump in molten metal.
1598. Florio, Ghiandole, wartles or kernels that come in the throte; the glanders in a horse. Ibid., Pallottole, the kernels or wartles that breede betweene the flesh and the skin, about the neck or groine.
1611. Cotgr., Gangules, Kernels, or wartles in the throat.
1659. Torriano, Verrúca formicánte, a wartle black like an ant, and therefore called an ant-wart. Verrúca pensíle, a long and hanging wartle.
1725. Bradley’s Family Dict., s.v. Antimony, They put it to be melted … in pots … and strain it through a scummer…, that so you may take away the Kernels or wartles thereof.
