ADZE, or ADDICE, a cutting tool of the axe kind; having its blade made thin and arching, and its edge at right angles to the handle; chiefly used for taking off thin chips of timber or boards, and for paring away certain irregularities which the axe cannot come at. The adze is used by carpenters, but more by coopers, as being convenient for cutting the hollow sides of boards, &c. It is ground from a base on its inside to its outer edge; so that, when it is blunt, they cannot conveniently grind it without taking its helve out of the eye.
AE, or Æ, a diphthong compounded of A and E. Authors are by no means agreed as to the use of the æ in English words. Some, out of regard to etymology, insist on its being retained in all words, particularly technical ones, borrowed from the Greek and Latin; while others, from a consideration that it is no proper diphthong in our language, its sound being no other than that of the simple e, contend that it ought to be entirely disused; and, in fact, the simple e has of late been adopted instead of the Roman æ, as in the word equator, &c.