wile

See also: Wile and wíle

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for wile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Etymology

From Middle English wile, wyle, from Old Northern French wile (“guile”) and Old English wīl (“wile, trick”) and wiġle (“divination”), from Proto-Germanic *wīlą (“craft, deceit”) (from Proto-Indo-European *wei- (“to turn, bend”)) and Proto-Germanic *wigulą, *wihulą (“prophecy”) (from Proto-Indo-European *weik- (“to consecrate, hallow, make holy”)). Cognate with Icelandic vél, væl (“artifice, craft, device, fraud, trick”), Dutch wijle.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /waɪl/
  • Rhymes: -aɪl
  • Homophone: while

Noun

wile (plural wiles)

  1. (usually in the plural) A trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice
    He was seduced by her wiles.
    • Milton
      to frustrate all our plots and wiles

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

wile (third-person singular simple present wiles, present participle wiling, simple past and past participle wiled)

  1. To entice or lure
  2. Archaic form of while, "to pass the time".
    Here's a pleasant way to wile away the hours.

Usage notes

The phrase meaning to pass time idly is while away. We can trace the meaning in an adjectival sense for while back to Old English, hwīlen — passing, transitory. We also see it in the whilend — temporary, transitory. But since wile away occurs so often, it is now included in many dictionaries.

References

Anagrams

Mapudungun

Noun

wile (using Raguileo Alphabet)

  1. tomorrow

Synonyms

References

  • Wixaleyiñ: Mapucezugun-wigkazugun pici hemvlcijka (Wixaleyiñ: Small Mapudungun-Spanish dictionary), Beretta, Marta; Cañumil, Dario; Cañumil, Tulio, 2008.

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English wīl, wiġle (“wile, trick”), cognate with Old Norse vél (“artifice, craft”).

Noun

wile

  1. wile, trick, artifice
  2. a sorcerer

Derived terms

Descendants

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