v. Obs. Forms: 4–5 agrege, -egge, 5 agredge, -eage, aggregge, 5–7 aggrege, 6–7 aggredge, 7 aggrage. Also aphet. grege. [a. OFr. agrege-r, -ier (Pr. agreujar):—late L. *aggreviā-re, f. late L. *grevis (cf. It. greve, Pr. greu, OFr. grief) for gravis, perh. by assimilation to levis (Diez). With aggreviāre, agregier, aggrege, cf. abbreviare, abrégier, abridge; alleviāre, alegier, allege. A MFr. form, influenced by aggravāre, was agragier, aggragier, whence Sc. aggrage. See AGGRIEVE and AGGRAVATE, from same L. elements.]
1. trans. To make heavy; to make dull (the eyes or ears).
1382. Wyclif, Lam. iii. 7. He agreggede myn gyues. Ibid., Is. vi. 10. Blynde out the herte of this puple, and his eres agregge [1388 aggrege thou the eeris therof]. Ibid., Is. lix. 1. Lo! there is not abreggid the hond of the Lord … ne agreggid is his ere.
2. intr. To be heavy, to be weighed down.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 389. Sacrilegge Which maketh the conscience agregge.
3. trans. To make graver, to aggravate.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xviii. 20. The synne of hem is myche agredgyd.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Parson’s T., 886. The circumstaunces that aggreggen mochel every synne.
1496. Dives & Pauper (W. de Worde), II. iv. 113/2. Wycked custome excuseth not synne but it accuseth and aggregeth synne.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scotl. (1821), I. 42. To aggrege this importabil cruelte in mair dammaige of our commoun weill.
1663. Mackenzie, Relig. Stoic, xiii. (1685), 137. [Which] will doubtless aggrage their punishment.
1696. A. Wedderburn, David’s Test., Serm., xvi. 182. That agregges their Torment and their Misery.
4. intr. To grow grave, to increase in aggravation.
c. 1400. Apol. for Loll., 4. In swelk þe synne aggregith bi resoun of þe degre.
5. trans. To cause to appear graver or worse, to exaggerate.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Melibœus, 53. His flaterers … empeirèd and agregged muchel of this matere.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. viii. 74. Than with his drede and sle contruwit fere My cryme aggregeis he on this manere.
1566. Knox, Hist. Ref. Scotl., Wks. 1846, I. 372. Sche … exponed hir grevous complaint, aggredging the same with many lyes.
1651. Calderwood, Hist. Kirk (1843), II. 474. These calumneis were published … and aggredged, to stirre up the subjects against the regent.
1669. Honyman, Surv. Naphtali, II. 15. All which this Libeller labours to aggrege, to cast him out of the hearts of his people.
1676. W. Row, Suppl. Blair’s Autobiog., xi. (1848), 363. He did [as he could] aggrage Mr. James Sharp’s great pains and travels for the good of the Kirk.
6. To allege as a grievance; to charge.
a. 1600. Egerton Pap., 226 (Halliw.). Neither dyd I euer put in question yf I shoulde do you right, as you appeare to agreage.
7. To load, heap. (Perh. confused with later Fr. agréger = L. aggregāre. The Latin is aggerat iras.)
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. vii. 112. Aggregeing on him wraith and malice large.
¶ Aggrege seems to have been obs. in Eng. a. 1500, though retained in Scotland. In 1554 it was so unknown that Tottel changed Lydgate’s agrege in the following passage to agregate, quite a different word. So in mod. Fr. agréger is treated as the equivalent of L. aggregare.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, III. xx. Some tonges … Whan they perceyue that a prince is meved To agreg hys yre do their busy cure [ed. 1554 Tagregate his yre do their busy cure].
