Forms: 3 eil, eile; 7 ayle, aile, 7– ail. [subst. use of AIL v.; but the 13th c. instances are probably subst. use of AIL a. The sb. is wanting in OE. though found in Goth. aglo.] Trouble, affliction; affection, illness, ailment.
c. 1230. Ancren Riwle, 50. Þe blake cloð also … deð lesse eile to þen eien. Ibid., 62. Heo habbeð idon muchel eil to moni on ancre.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 143. Long custome hath stupified their hearts, and made them senselesse of their ayle.
1734. Watts, Reliq. Juv. (1789), 218. Buzzing all my ails into the ears of my friends.
1812. Combe (Dr. Syntax), Picturesque, IV. And ointments, too, to cure the ail Of her cropp’d ears and mangled tail.
1852. Moir, Scot. Sab., iii. Poet. Wks. II. 39. Soother of life, physician of all ail.
