1648 A. Eyre Diary 30 Oct. in C. Jackson et al. Yorks. Diaries (1877) 113 I marked my sheepe..with fresh redle.

1663 J. Beale Let. 2 Nov. in R. Boyle Corr. II. 163 The only Medicine in those dayes..for the small poxe in all those countreyes, was a small handful of the reddle with which there they reddle sheep (drunke up in our ordinary beere).

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Reddle, Ruddle, or Red Chalk, a Red Fossile Stone, which..is used by Painters, &c. to make Red-Pencils.

1748 J. Hill Gen. Nat. Hist. I. 47 This is the substance commonly called in English Reddle, and is the Rubrica fabrilis.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 1147 Smearing the fore-bows of the rams with reddle, ochre, or some similar substance that has the property of marking.

1879 F. Rutley Study of Rocks x. 155 Hematite also occurs in a granular state, sometimes earthy as reddle.

1934 V. S. Howard tr. S. Lagerlöf Memories of my Childhood xx. 228 To come home and find your mugs, glasses, and spoons, your bed and bedding covered with reddle was no joke.

1973 J. Seymour & S. Seymour Self-sufficiency viii. 104 If you like put some reddle on his [sc. the ram's] chest so that he marks the ewes as he serves them.

2004 Sunday Tel. (Nexis) 1 Feb. (House & Home section) 3 The rusty red of Calico House's decoration comes from a pigment known as reddle, which is derived from iron ore.

1663 J. Beale Let. 2 Nov. in R. Boyle Corr. II. 163 The only Medicine in those dayes..for the small poxe in all those countreyes, was a small handful of the reddle with which there they reddle sheep (drunke up in our ordinary beere).

1796 G. M. Woodward Eccentric Excurs. vii. 81 The floor is reddled, the walls white-washed.

1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 123 A number of boys with their faces blacked and reddled.

1990 A. Adams Nobodies 51 With bloodied apron, like a randy ram Reddled to mark the ewes, the butcher stands.