raddled

Did You Know?

How raddled came to mean "old and worn" isn't known for sure, but etymologists have some theories. One possibility is an association with raddle, a red coloring matter that was used to mark animals. From this, raddled came to mean "heavily made up with rouge" - a condition that sometimes causes the makeup wearer to appear older and more haggard instead of more attractive. Raddled predates the similar-sounding adjective rattled, which means "confused or upset" and comes from the verb rattle. Raddled first appeared in print in 1694, and rattled didn't appear until the early 1900s.