AIL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ail mean? 

• AIL (noun)
  The noun AIL has 1 sense:

1. aromatic bulb used as seasoning

  Familiarity information: AIL used as a noun is very rare.

• AIL (verb)
  The verb AIL has 2 senses:

1. be ill or unwell

2. cause bodily suffering to and make sick or indisposed

  Familiarity information: AIL used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AIL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Aromatic bulb used as seasoning

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

ail; garlic

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)

• AIL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ail    ... he / she / it ails   
Past simple: ailed   
Past participle: ailed   
-ing form: ailing   

Sense 1

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause bodily suffering to and make sick or indisposed

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

ail; pain; trouble

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)

 Context examples 

“Bless me, Poole, what brings you here?” he cried; and then taking a second look at him, “What ails you?” he added; “is the doctor ill?”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“Who knows but I may?” said the little man: “tell me what ails you, and perhaps you will find I may be of some use.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Did he ask what ailed me?

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Here is to thee, lad, and may we be good comrades to each other! But, hola! what is it that ails our friend of the wrathful face?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I wish't you'd listen to reason," she answered feebly, but with unwavering belief in the correctness of her diagnosis of what was ailing him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And what ailed the chestnut tree? it writhed and groaned; while wind roared in the laurel walk, and came sweeping over us.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“He was ailing a long time—a shattered, broken man, these many years. When he knew his state in this last illness, he asked them to send for me. He was sorry then. Very sorry.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He said, a fancy would sometimes take a Yahoo to retire into a corner, to lie down, and howl, and groan, and spurn away all that came near him, although he were young and fat, wanted neither food nor water, nor did the servant imagine what could possibly ail him.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

What ails you?

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I lived in perpetual fright at that time, and had all manner of imaginary complaints from not knowing what to do with myself, or when I should hear from him next; but as long as we could be together, nothing ever ailed me, and I never met with the smallest inconvenience.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)