a, m. [cp. as to the last part, Germ. ziel], death, loss of life, exitium; rather poët.; or in prose only used in emphatic phrases; hefir þó lokit sumum stöðum með aldrtila, has ended fatally, Fms. viii. 153; ætla ek þær lyktir munu á verða, at vér munim a. hljóta af þeim konungi, he will prove fatal to our family, Eg. 19; mun ek þangað sækja heldr yndi en a. (an alliterative phrase), Bret. 36; údæmi ok a., 38:—the words, Acts ix. I, ‘breathing out tbreatenings and slaughter,’ are in the Icel. translation of the year 1540 rendered ‘Saul blés ógn og aldrtila.’