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wile
Audio Help [wahyl] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, wiled, wil·ing.
Audio Help [wahyl] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, wiled, wil·ing. –noun
–verb (used with object)
—Verb phrase
| 1. | a trick, artifice, or stratagem meant to fool, trap, or entice; device. |
| 2. | wiles, artful or beguiling behavior. |
| 3. | deceitful cunning; trickery. |
| 4. | to beguile, entice, or lure (usually fol. by away, from, into, etc.): The music wiled him from his study. |
| 5. | wile away, to spend or pass (time), esp. in a leisurely or pleasurable fashion: to wile away the long winter nights. |
[Origin: 1125–75; (n.) ME; late OE wil, perh. < ON vél artifice, earlier *wihl-
]
] | Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
wile
To learn more about wile visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| wile
Audio Help (wīl) Pronunciation Key
n.
tr.v. wiled, wil·ing, wiles
[Middle English wil, from Old North French, from Old Norse vēl, trick, or of Low German origin.] Synonyms: These nouns denote means for achieving an end by indirection or deviousness. Wile suggests deceiving and entrapping a victim by playing on his or her weak points: "He did not fail to see/His uncle's cunning wiles and treachery" (William Morris). |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
wile
1154, wil "wile, trick," perhaps from O.N.Fr. *wile (O.Fr. guile), or directly from a Scand. source (cf. O.N. vel "trick, craft, fraud," vela "defraud"). Perhaps ultimately related to O.E. wicca "wizard" (see Wicca). Lighter sense of "amorous or playful trick" is from 1600. Wily is attested from c.1300.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| wile | |
noun | |
| the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them) [syn: trickery] |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
Wile
Guile\, n. [OE. guile, gile, OF. guile; of German origin, and the same word as E. wile. See Wile.] Craft; deceitful cunning; artifice; duplicity; wile; deceit; treachery. Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. --John i. 47. To wage by force or guile eternal war. --Milton.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
Wile
Wile\, n. [OE. wile, AS. w[=i]l; cf. Icel. v?l, v[ae]l. Cf. Guile.] A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. --Eph. vi. 11. Not more almighty to resist our might, Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. --Milton.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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