beguile
verb/bɪˈɡaɪl/
Etymology From Middle English begilen, begylen; equivalent to be- + guile. Compare Middle Dutch begilen (“to beguile”). Doublet of bewile.
1
To deceive or delude (using guile).
- And as wililye as thoſe ſhrewes that beguyle hym haue holpe hym to inuolue and intryke the matter: I ſhall vſe ſo playn and open a way therin, that euery man ſhall well ſee the trouth.1533 (date written), Thomas More, “The Debellacyon of Salem and Bizance […]. Chapter XVIJ.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1004, column 2:
- I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguiled you, in a plain accent, was a plain knave.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], line 102:
2
To charm, delight or captivate.
- 1864 November 21, Abraham Lincoln (signed) or John Hay, letter to Mrs. Bixby in Boston I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming.
- I will never touch The Orb, even though its mysterious glow seduces and beguiles.
3
To cause (time) to seem to pass quickly, by way of pleasant diversion.
- We beguiled the hours away.
- They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213:
1 more example
- They beguile the tedium of this enforced leisure by weaving baskets and playing on certain sacred flutes.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 11, page 241:
- Derived terms
- beguilable, beguilement, beguiler, beguiling, unbeguile
- Related terms
- wile