Pronounced: hoik, verb
Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this word, but it does sound a bit familiar
Yesterday’s word
The word raddle means, as a noun, “red ocher”; it’s used for marking animals or coloring. As a verb, it has the following meanings
- To mark or paint with red ocher
- To twist together or interweave
- To beat or to cause to have a worn-out appearance
Background / Comments
The ‘red ocher’ meaning is a variant of ruddle from rud (red). It’s root word is reudh (red) and is the root for red, rouge, ruby, ruddy, robust, russet and more. The ‘twist together’ meaning comes from English dialect raddle (stick interwoven with others in a fence). It’s root is reidh (to ride) and is the root for ride, raid, road, and raiment. There is no known origin for the third meaning.
First usage
Because there are different origins, there are different dates; the red ocher noun/verb is the oldest, coming into English in the mid-1300s. The twist meaning showed up in the mid-1400s. The final verb came into usage in the late 1600s.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 