a. Obs. or dial. Forms: 1 ánfeald, 1–3 anfald, 4–6 afald(e, 5–6 anefald, 6 afauld, efald, 7 effa(u)ld, 8– aefauld; all north. after 2. Rare midl. form 5 oonefold. [f. A adj.1, AN, one + FOLD; cogn. w. OS. and OFris. énfáld, ON. einfalldr, Goth. ainfalþs, mod.G. einfalt-ig. Confined after 12th c. to northern, and after 14th to Sc. writers, by whom reduced to a-fald, effauld, mod.Sc. aefauld. The oonefold of Townl. Myst. is only a transliteration of the north. anfald, the midl. and south. dialects having lost the word, which has however been used anew in modern times as ONE-FOLD. Cf. two-fold, etc.]
† 1. Single, singular, sole, only. Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gramm., xiii. 83. Numerus is ʓetel, singularis et pluralis ánfeald oððe meniʓfeald.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 25. Erðon he hefde anfalde sunne and seodðan he haueð twafald.
c. 1200. Ormul., 11296. Swa þatt tu shule tweȝȝenn menn Wiþþ anfald name tellenn.
c. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 6342, Cotton MS. Persons thre, And an-fald godd in vnite. Fairfax MS. Anfalde god in trinite. Göttingen MS. A-fold godd in vnite. Trinity MS. O godhede in vnite.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XX. 618. The afald god in trinite.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 132. Haylle, oonefold God in persons þre!
1513. Douglas, Æneis, Pref. 463. Afald Godhede, ay lesting but discrepance.
2. Simple, sincere, without duplicity; honest. (In mod. Sc. Jamieson.)
c. 960. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. vi. 22. Ȝif þin eʓe biþ anfald.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., ibid., Ȝyf þin eaʓe bið an-feald.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 151. Anfald oðer twafald is ech mon … Iob wes anfald rihtwis Mon, and swa god mon.
c. 1200. Ormul., 1537. To þeowwtenn an Allmahhtiȝ Godd Wiþþ anfald rihhte læfe.
1465. quoted in P. F. Tytler’s Hist. Scotl., II. 388. To stand in afald kendnes, supplé, and defencs, ilk an til odir.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. Prol. 159. With ane fald diligence. Ibid., XIII. vii. 90. Traistis wele Enee afald and kynd.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scotl. (1858), I. 63. Come in that tyme with anefald mynd and hart.
1600. in Pitcairn, Crim. Trials (1833), II. 284. To obey and serve, with efald and ever ready service.
1609. A. Hume (title), Ane Afold Admonitioun to the Ministerie of Scotland, by a Deing Brother.
1651. Calderwood, Hist. Kirk. (1843), II. 353. We sall tak effald, plaine, and upright part with him.
