beguile

English

Alternative forms

• begyle

Etymology

From Middle English begilen, begylen; equivalent to be- +‎ guile. Compare Middle Dutch begilen (“to beguile”). Doublet of bewile.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aɪl
• IPA^(key): /bɪˈɡaɪl/

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Verb

beguile (third-person singular simple present beguiles, present participle beguiling, simple past and past participle beguiled)

1. (transitive) To deceive or delude (using guile).
   • 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 April 1557, →OCLC, page 1004, column 2:

     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.

   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , line 102:

     I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguiled you, in a plain accent, was a plain knave.

2. (transitive) 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. (transitive) To cause (time) to seem to pass quickly, by way of pleasant diversion.

   We beguiled the hours away

   • 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:

     They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.

   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 11, page 241:

     They beguile the tedium of this enforced leisure by weaving baskets and playing on certain sacred flutes.

Related terms

• wile

Translations

References

• “beguile”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “beguile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.