▪ I. guile, n.
(gaɪl)
Forms: 3–6 gile, 3–7 gyle, (4 gil, Sc. ghyle, gule), 4–5 gyl, 5 gyll(e, (gilee), 5–6 guyle, 4– guile.
[a. OF. guile = Pr. guila, Pg. guilha; presumably of Teut. origin, but no certain etymon is known, as the late OE. w{iacu}l, occurring only once, may itself be adopted from Fr., and ON. vél seems to be inadmissible for phonetic reasons. See wile n.]
1. Insidious cunning, deceit, treachery.
† without guile: in ME. poetry a formula = ‘sooth to say’.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 202 Much gile is iðe uoxe. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 6332 Hii fondede mid alle gile to do þis luþer dede. 13.. K. Alis. 1427 The thridde day, withoute gyle, He aryved at Cysile. 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 387 Neþir was eny gyle founden in his mouþe. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love ii. ix. 92 Gyl to fulfyll in ther frendys tha schame nott. c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 630 Than rais thai wp, for Wallace dredyt gyll. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxii. 2 Blessed is the man, vnto whom the Lorde imputeth no synne, in whose sprete there is no gyle. a 1547 Surrey On Wyatt 24 With vertue fraught, reposed, voyd of gyle. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. i. 104 Thay rusche fordward with al thair force vpon the ennimie, nathir throuch fraud and gyle, bot strenth and armes. 1671 Milton Samson 989 Jael, who with inhospitable guile, Smote Sisera sleeping through the Temples nail'd. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 57 No guile appearing in them, but rather a face of grief. 1813 H. & J. Smith Horace in Lond. 30 Unpractised in a woman's guile, Thou think'st [etc.]. a 1834 Coleridge Poems (1862) 16 Tender, serene and all devoid of guile, Soft is her soul, and sleeping infant's smile. 1852 Tennyson Ode Wellington 134 Pure as he from taint of craven guile. 1868 Freeman Norman Conq. (1876) II. vii. 106 Who nevertheless shrank from the fouler wickedness of slaying a kinsman by guile. |
† 2. With a and pl. An instance of this; a deceit, stratagem, trick, wile. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 12 And don al þet oðer & leten þis nis bute a trukunge & a fals gile. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11151 He let someni an hundred, & þer he hente an gile. 1340 Ayenb. 39 To þise zenne belongeþ al þet barat alle ualshedes and alle gyles þet comeþ in plait. a 1400 Sir Perc. 1034 He was by-thoghte of a gyle. 1543 Grafton Contn. Harding 453 He made towardes hym; and that it should not bee thought to bee a made guyle, sette his hoost in araye as though he would fight. 1545 Brinklow Compl. 17 How many gyles and suttylteys be there, to auoyde and escape the seruyng the kyngs wrytt. 1609 Bible (Douay) Ps. xxxvii. 13 They..spake vanities: and meditated guiles al the day. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 139 That they may be caught and taken as by a spirituall guile. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 391, I..count thy specious gifts no gifts but guiles. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 380 While yet the dark-broun water aids the guile, To tempt the trout. 1767 W. L. Lewis Statius' Thebaid ix. 212 Halys she shews to carry on the Guile. |
3. Comb.: † guile-bones, a boys' game ? similar to dibs; † guile-man, one who deals in ‘guiles’, a deceiver; † guile-shares, cheating shares; division of spoils, or shares of wreckage (Kent. Gloss.).
| 1606 N. Riding Rec. (1883) I. 49 Walter Parkhurst presented for keping Guile-bones or Ten-bones and other unlawfull games at his house. 1613 W. Browne Sheph. Pipe i. (1614) C 6 Thus wretchedly (lo!) this guile-man dyde. 1723 Lewis Isle Tenet 22 Nothing sure can be more vile and base than under pretence of assisting the distressed Masters [of stranded vessels], and saving theirs and the Merchants goods, to convert them to their own use, by making what they call guile shares. |
▪ II. guile, v. Obs. or arch.
(gaɪl)
Forms: 3–4 gilen, gylen, 4–5 gile, gyle, 5 gylyn, (4 gily, 5 gyll, 6 guylen), 4– guile.
[a. OF. guile-r (= Pr. guilar), f. guile guile n. Cf. wile v.]
trans. To beguile; to deceive.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 74 Ȝif eni weneð þat beo religius, & ne bridleð nout his tunge, his religiun is fals; he gileð his heorte. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 362 Manyon trowyn on here wylys. And many tymes þe pye hem gylys. 1377 Lang. P. Pl. B. xx. 124 With glosynges and with gabbynges he gyled þe peple. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 47 For often he that will beguile Is guiled with the same guile. c 1425 Seven Sag. (P.) 989 Thorugh thy false clerkis sevene Thou wylt by gylled, by Good in heven! 1468 Medulla Gram. in Cath. Angl. 156 note, Prestigio, to tregetyn or gylyn. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. ix. 7 Who wotes not, that womans subtiltyes Can guylen Argus, when she list misdonne? 1821 W. Liddle Poems 13 (E.D.D.) At last he knew he was guil'd long By that false tyrant's wily tongue. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 387 Its tones can guile the dark and lonesome day. |
▪ III. guile
variant of gule n.2, gyle.