beguile

Etymology

Definitions

1. 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.
   • I know, sir, I am no flatterer: he that beguiled you, in a plain accent, was a plain knave.
2. 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. 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.
   • They beguile the tedium of this enforced leisure by weaving baskets and playing on certain sacred flutes.

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