fardel
/ˈfɑː(ɹ)dəl/ noun, verb
Forms fardels fardeling fardelling fardeled fardelled farthel farl fardle
- noun A fourth part: a quarter of anything.
- noun (historical) An English unit of land area variously understood as the fourth part of an oxgang or of a yardland.
- noun (obsolete) A bundle or burden.
- verb (obsolete, transitive) To make up in fardels; to bunch.
Synonyms
Etymology
A clipped form of Middle English ferthendel (literally “fourth part”), equivalent to fourth + deal. Cognate with Dutch vierendeel (“a fourth part, quarter”), German Viertel (“a quarter, fourth”), Danish fjerdedel (“a quarter”), Swedish fjärdedel (“a fourth, quarter”).
From Middle English fardel, from Old French fardel (“pack, bundle”), from Spanish fardel, diminutive of fardo (“pack, bundle”), from Arabic فَرْد (fard, “one of a pair”), as applied to saddlebags.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A bundle or little pack; hence, a burden. [Obs.] Shak.
- verb To make up in fardels. [Obs.] Fuller.
Etymology [OF. fardel, F. fardeau; cf. Sp. fardel, fardillo, fardo, LL. fardellus; prob. fr. Ar. fard one of the two parts of an object divisible into two, hence, one of the two parts of a camel's load. Cf. Furl.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fardel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details