Also 4–6 iangil(l, -el(e, 5 -ille, -ylle, (changel, yangle): see also GANGLE. [a. OF. jangler (12th c.), jengler, gengler, in same senses, ulterior origin obscure. (Referred by some to an Old Nether-frankish *jangelôn repr. by MDu. jangelen; but this is improbable.) In senses 3, 5, app. influenced by JINGLE v.]
I. intr. † 1. To talk excessively or noisily; to chatter, babble, prate; said also of birds. Often applied contemptuously to ordinary speaking. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 27620. O pride es iangling o foly, and namliest of licheri.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 4098. Þenne come Saxoyns, men of Angle, Als þey couþe on þer speche iangle.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 676. Thy mynde is lorn, thou ianglest as a Iay.
c. 1475[?]. Sqr. lowe Degre, 51. The iay iangled them amonge, The larke began that mery songe.
c. 1480. Lyt. Childr. Lyt. Bk., 90, in Babees Bk., 22. Aryse up soft & stylle, And iangylle nether with Iak ne Iylle.
1569. Bp. Parkhurst, Injunctions, B i. Whether there be … any that walk vp and downe iangling and talking in the tyme of Common praier.
1604. T. Wright, Passions, I. x. 41. In halfe an houre five men will bee wearie with conference, and barren in matter, but three women will jangle, and [printed aud] never lacke new subiects to discourse vpon.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 489. To prate and jangle, play and be merry, and tell tales.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., III. III. VI. iii. 175. It was usual to hear the two nightingales Jangling and Talking together.
2. To speak angrily, harshly or discordantly; to grumble, murmur; to contend, dispute, wrangle, squabble. arch.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 90. Raykes bylyue Ionas toward port Iaph, ay Ianglande for tene Þat he nolde þole, for no-þyng, none of þose pynes.
1382. Wyclif, Exod. xvii. 2. The which ianglynge aȝens Moyses, seith, Ȝif to us water, that we drynken.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 920. Schyr, we jangill bot in wayne.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), p. li. Some braule and some jangle when they be beastly fed.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., II. i. 225. Good wits wil be iangling, but gentles agree.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., viii. M.’s Wks. (1851), 194. It is not worth while to jangle about a French word.
1797. Mad. D’Arblay, Lett., 3 April. Thus they go on, wrangling and jangling.
1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. viii. (1866), 146. They … jangle about … the breadth of a phylactery.
† b. To parley (with a thing or person). Obs.
c. 1440. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), II. xxiii. Jangill not therwith … but smyte [it] oute of thyne herte.
a. 1684. Leighton, Comm. 1 Pet. iii. 15. It suffers us not to stand to jangle with each trifling grumbling objection.
c. quasi-trans. With out. To go on jangling till it exhausts itself.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes, ii. (1872), 58. Homoiousion, Homoousion, vain logical jangle … may jangle itself out, and go whither and how it likes.
3. To make a discordant or unmusical noise; to sound or ‘jingle’ harshly or discordantly.
1484. Lett. Rich. III. & Hen. VII. (Rolls), I. 394. The changelyng of bellis.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 320. The Belles from the Turrettes on highe make a wonderfull ianglyng.
1678. Otway, Friendship in F., V. i. The Bells shall jangle out of Tune all Day.
1732. Mrs. Delany, Lett. to Mrs. A. Granville, 345. I was placed at the harpsichord, and after jangling a little, Mr. Wesley took his fiddle and played to his daughters’ dancing.
1875. Manning, Mission H. Ghost, viii. 214. All its notes jangle in discord.
II. trans. 4. To speak or utter in a noisy, babbling, discordant or contentious manner.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. IV. 155. Madame, I am ȝowre man. What so my mouth iangleth.
1412–3. Hoccleve, Ball. to Hen. V., 37. Thogh my conceit be smal, And … my wordes … clappe and iangle foorth, as dooth a iay.
1545. Hen. VIII., in Hall, Chron. (1809), 866. How unreverently that moste precious iuel the worde of God is disputed rimed song and iangeled in every Alehouse.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, Pref. Anything they shall … either murmure in corners, or iangle in secret.
c. 1709. Prior, Protogenes & Apelles, 6. Ere monkish rhymes Had jangled their fantastic chimes.
1841. T. A. Trollope, Summer W. France, I. xvii. 284. The bell … is clanging and jangling its last angry summons to tardy passengers.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., III. ix. That … Life-theory which we hear jangled on all hands of us.
5. To cause (a bell, etc.) to give forth a harsh discordant sound; to cause to ring, jingle or clang inharmoniously.
1604. Shaks., Ham. (2nd Qo.), III. i. 166. Like sweet bells iangled out of time, and harsh.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 189. They jangle all out of tune the sweet Bels of reason and judgement.
1848. Clough, Amours de Voy., II. 109. Jangling a sword on the steps, or jogging a musket Slung to the shoulder behind.
1883. Ld. R. Gower, My Remin., I. vii. 122. Bell-ringers would come … and jangle their changes before an admiring … audience.
† 6. To speak angrily to, to scold. Obs. rare.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. li. (1869), 83. What gost thou thus jangelinge me?
† 7. To jape. Sc. Obs.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 150. So said the prest that last janglyt thi wyff.
Hence Jangled ppl. a.
1868. Farrar, Silence & V., ii. (1875), 36. That jangled dissonance in what should be the sweet music of men’s lives.
1880. Baring-Gould, Mehalah, xxviii. (1884), 391. The jangled clash of bells.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, viii. 70. A ferocity of accent that testified to his own jangled nerves.
