Library / English Dictionary

AIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Aromatic bulb used as seasoning

Synonyms:

ail; garlic

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("ail" is a kind of...):

flavorer; flavoring; flavourer; flavouring; seasoner; seasoning (something added to food primarily for the savor it imparts)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ail"):

clove; garlic clove (one of the small bulblets that can be split off of the axis of a larger garlic bulb)

Holonyms ("ail" is a part of...):

Allium sativum; garlic (bulbous herb of southern Europe widely naturalized; bulb breaks up into separate strong-flavored cloves)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause bodily suffering to and make sick or indisposed

Synonyms:

ail; pain; trouble

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "ail" is one way to...):

hurt (give trouble or pain to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "ail"):

break out; erupt; recrudesce (become raw or open)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

ailment (an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be ill or unwell

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "ail" is one way to...):

hurt; suffer (feel pain or be in pain)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

ailment (an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“But tell me, Agatha, what it is that ails her?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

However, they lifted her up, and when they found what ailed her, they cut the lace; and in a little time she began to breathe, and very soon came to life again.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I replied, that nothing ailed me save anxiety of mind, which I hoped soon to alleviate.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“What ails the man?” asked Aylward in surprise.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then her husband was alarmed, and asked: “What ails you, dear wife?” “Ah,” she replied, “if I can’t eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He had been a bit ailing like the day before, but naught to signify; and when Mr. St. John asked if he would like either o' ye to be sent for, he fair laughed at him.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The traveller now, stooping, felt his foot and leg, as if trying whether they were sound; apparently something ailed them, for he halted to the stile whence I had just risen, and sat down.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Turning from Bessie (though her presence was far less obnoxious to me than that of Abbot, for instance, would have been), I scrutinised the face of the gentleman: I knew him; it was Mr. Lloyd, an apothecary, sometimes called in by Mrs. Reed when the servants were ailing: for herself and the children she employed a physician.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)