Obs. or dial. Forms: 1 eʓl, 2 eiȝle, 3–7 eile, 4 eyle, yle, 6 ayle, 6–8 aile, 8 ail. [OE. eʓl cogn. w. Germ. egel, agele, orig. Teut. *agli.] The awn of barley, or other corn.

1

c. 1000.  O. E. Gosp., Luke vi. 41. Hwi ʓesihst þu þa eʓle on þines broþor eaʓan?

2

c. 1160.  Hatton Gosp., ibid. Hwi ȝesyhst þu þa eiȝle on þines broðer eaȝen?

3

c. 1230.  Ancren Riwle, 270. Forto winden hweate & scheaden þe eilen & tet chef urom þe clene cornes.

4

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cx. The beste [nard] is smoþe … with small yles [ed. 1535 eiles].

5

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, 461. The eares (of barley) be … set ful of long bearded sharpe ayles.

6

1620.  Venner, Via Recta (1650), 23. Wheat … whose eares are bare and naked without eiles.

7

1787.  Winter, Syst. Husb., 310. Barley should likewise be … well shook in a sack by two men, to be cleared from ailes. [Still used in the Eastern Counties.]

8