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 con-
veniently grind it without taking its helve out of the eye.
Æ, 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 etymo-
logy, insist on its being retained in all words, particu-
larly 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.