Definition of "ail"

ail¹

/eɪl/

verb
third-person singular simple present ails, present participle ailing, simple past and past participle ailed
1. (transitive) To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)
  Quotations
  What aileth thee, Hagar?
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Genesis 21:17
  Not content with having in 1996 put a Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the statue book, Congress has now begun to hold hearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriage in America?
  2011, “Connubial bliss in America”, in The Economist
2. (intransitive) To be ill; to suffer; to be troubled.
  Quotations
  When he ails ever so little […] he is so peevish.
  1740, Samuel Richardson, Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
noun
plural ails
1. (obsolete) An ailment; trouble; illness.

ail²

/eɪl/

adjective
comparative ailer or more ail, superlative ailest or most ail
1. (obsolete) Painful; troublesome.

ail³

/eɪl/

noun
plural ails
1. The awn of barley or other types of corn.