generally neuter, but an apparently fem. acc. pl. ordéla occurs, L. Edg. C. 24; Th. ii. 248, 28. (Cf. O. H. Ger. which has fem. and neut. forms.) In the sense of judicial decision, judgment the word is used by O. Frs. O. Sax. O. H. Ger. (A. Sax. it is found only in the special sense, which belongs also to the O. Frs., of a decision which follows an appeal to the Deity. The ordeal was thus connected with religion, and attended by religious ceremonies. In L. Ath. i. 23; Th. i. 210, 26, it is said with respect to the person who is to undergo the ordeal 'féde hine sylfne mid hláfe and mid wætere and sealte and wyrtum ǽr hé tó gán scyle, and gestande him mæssan ðæra þreora daga (the three days preceding the ordeal) ǽlcne, and geoffrige tó, and gá tó húsle ðý dæge ðe hé tó ðam ordále gán scyle, and swerige ðonne ðane áþ, ðæt hé sý unscyldig ðære tihtlan ǽr hé tó ðam ordále gá.' Before taking the Eucharist and going to the ordeal a solemn form of adjuration was addressed to the person concerned, that unless he was conscious of innocence he should desist, ánfeald tihtle, the hand was plunged in up to the wrist, if of threefold, up to the elbow. When the hot iron was used, a weight of one pound or of three pounds, according to the case, had to be carried nine feet. The hand was then sealed up, and its condition, when unwrapped at the end of three days, determined the guilt or innocence of the accused. See also L. Ath. i. 23; Th. i. 212, 2-10. Further reference to the difference in degree is made in Ath. iaduentum domini óþ octabas epiphanie and fram septuagesima óþ fífténe niht ofer eástran, Wulfst. 117, 14. See Schmid. A. S. Gesetz., Grmm. R. A. pp. 863 sqq., 908 sqq., and cf. cor-snǽd. As an instance of the occurrence of the word elsewhere than in the Laws, see Chart. Th. 432, where the phrase áþ and ordél occurs several times. [O. Frs. or-, ur-dél: O. Sax. ur-deili: O. H. Ger. ur-teil, -teila, -teili judicium, sentential.]