tempt
verbUS, UK /tɛmpt/
Etymology From Middle English tempten, from Old French tempter (French: tenter), from Latin temptare, from tentare (“to handle, touch, try, test, tempt”), frequentative of tendere (“to stretch”). Displaced native English costning (“temptation”).
1
To provoke someone to do wrong, especially by promising a reward; to entice.
- She tempted me to eat the apple.
- By Heav’ns, ſuch Virtues, join’d with ſuch Succeſs, Diſtract my very Soul: Our Father’s Fortune Wou’d almoſt tempt us to renounce his Precepts.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:
1 more example
- Eveline Hill, the protagonist of the Dubliners story "Eveline," for example, successfully extricates herself from the confines of her "Eve" name since, like her nameling in the Garden of Eden who was tempted by promises of knowledge, Eveline, too, is tempted: […]1994, Claire A. Culleton, Names and Naming in Joyce:
2
To attract; to allure.
- Its glossy skin tempted me.
- The next time you are trout fishing and none of your lures tempts the fish, smoke a spoon hook and cast it.2008, Popular Mechanics, How to Tempt a Fish: A Complete Guide to Fishing, page 20:
3
To provoke something; to court.
- It would be tempting fate.
- Derived terms
- attempt, overtempt, retempt, temptability, temptable, temptation, tempter, tempt fate, temptful, temptless, temptly, tempt providence, temptress, temptsome, temptuous