wile

wile

 (wīl)

n.

1. A stratagem or trick intended to deceive or ensnare.

2. A disarming or seductive manner, device, or procedure: the wiles of a skilled negotiator.

tr.v. wiled, wil·ing, wiles

1. To influence or lead by means of wiles; entice: "Could the Erl-king's Daughter have revealed herself to me ... she might have wiled me by the hand into the dimmest forests upon earth" (Thomas De Quincey).

2. To pass (time) agreeably: wile away a Sunday afternoon.

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[Middle English wil, from Old North French, from Old Norse vēl, trick, or of Low German origin. V., sense 2, influenced by while.]

Synonyms: wile, artifice, trick, ruse, feint, stratagem, maneuver, dodge
These nouns denote means for achieving an end by indirection or deviousness. Wile suggests deceiving and entrapping a victim by playing on his or her weak points: "Eve yielded to the wiles of the arch tempter" (James Joyce).
Artifice refers to something especially contrived to create a desired effect: "Should the public forgive artifices used to avoid military service?" (Godfrey Sperling).
Trick implies willful deception: "The ... boys ... had all sorts of tricks to prevent us from winning" (W.H. Hudson).
Ruse stresses the creation of a false impression: "It is perfidy to use a flag of truce as a ruse to acquire military information or to play for time to retreat" (Thaddeus Holt).
Feint denotes a deceptive act calculated to distract attention from one's real purpose: "Rob ... sat staring at him, and affecting to snivel with sympathy, and making a feint of being virtuous, and treasuring up every word he said (like a young spy as he was) with very promising deceit" (Charles Dickens).
Stratagem implies carefully planned deception used to achieve an objective: "He was ... daring in the administrative stratagems he employed to bring himself to the attention of his superiors" (Joseph Heller).
Maneuver and dodge stress shifty and ingenious deception: "[He] was being accused of shady banking maneuvers and abusing his influence for his own financial gain" (Porter Shreve)."At my age one has had a considerable experience of the ins and outs, the dodges that accompany self-interest" (Saul Bellow).

wile

(waɪl)

n

1. trickery, cunning, or craftiness

2. (usually plural) an artful or seductive trick or ploy

vb

(tr) to lure, beguile, or entice

[C12: from Old Norse vel craft; probably related to Old French wīle, Old English wīgle magic. See guile]

wile

(waɪl)

n., v. wiled, wil•ing. n.

1. a trick, artifice, or stratagem meant to fool, trap, or entice.

2. wiles, artful or beguiling behavior.

3. deceitful cunning; trickery.

v.t.

4. to beguile, entice, or lure (usu. fol. by away, from, into, etc.): The music wiled him from his study.

5. wile away, to spend or pass (time), esp. in a leisurely or pleasurable fashion.

[1125–75; (n.) Middle English; late Old English wil]

wile

Past participle: wiled
Gerund: wiling

Imperative

wile

wile

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

wile - the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them) chicanery, shenanigan, trickery, guile, chicane dissimulation, deception, dissembling, deceit - the act of deceiving dupery, hoax, put-on, humbug, fraud, fraudulence - something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage jugglery - artful trickery designed to achieve an end; "the senator's tax program was mere jugglery"

wile

noun

An indirect, usually cunning means of gaining an end:

artifice, deception, device, dodge, feint, gimmick, imposture, jig, maneuver, ploy, ruse, sleight, stratagem, subterfuge, trick.

Informal: shenanigan, take-in.

verb

To pass (time) without working or in avoiding work.Also used with away:

dawdle (away), fiddle away, idle (away), kill, trifle away, waste, while (away).

Translations

artifice

wile

n usu pl → List f, → Schliche pl; she used all her wiles to persuade him → sie ließ ihren ganzen Charme spielen, um ihn zu überreden