▪ I. † ˈcautel, n. Obs. or arch.
Forms: 4 cautell, (north. cawteile), 4–7 cautil(e, 5 cauteel, cawtele, 5–6 cawtel(le, 5–7 cautell(e, 6 cautill, (Sc. cauteil), 4–7 cautele, 4–7 (9) cautel.
[a. F. cautèle (13th c. in Littré), ad. L. cautēla of Roman Law (whence also Pr., Sp., It. cautela) precaution, f. caut- ppl. stem of cavēre to take heed.]
1. A crafty device, artifice, stratagem; a trick, sleight, deceit.
| 138. Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 6 Make knowe to þe peple the cautelis of Anticrist. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle ii. lx. (1859) 57 Techinge me for to caste sleyghtes and cauteles. 1549 Compl. Scot. xiv. 118 Be ane subtile cauteil thai gart pausanias seruitur pas to the tempil. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxi. §9 The fraudes, cautels, impostures, and vices of euery profession. 1611 Cotgr., Cautelle, a wile, cautell, sleight. |
b. Applied to things material.
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. 123 (Harl. MS.) What dude he but yede, and purveyde him of iij cautils; scil. of an honest Garlonde of Rede Rosys. 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, vii, No..person..with any deuise or engine made of heare, canuas, or with any other cautele shall..take any frie, spawne, or broode of yeles. |
2. Cunning, craftiness, wiliness, trickery.
| c 1375 Barbour Troy-bk. ii. 114 A, what to þe wys mane rytht wele It geynes to haue þe cawteile That he be not the forspekere. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 303 But knewen men her cautel & her queynt wordes, Þei wolde worchypen hem nouȝt but a litel. 1548 Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, xxiv. §1 Thieves, which..by Craft and Cautele do escape from the same without Punishment. c 1580 Hatton in Ld. Campbell Chancellors (1857) II. xlv. 289 Be free from cawtell. |
3. Caution, wariness, heedfulness.
| 1511 Elyot Gov. i. iv, There is required to be therein [in their hearts] moche cautele and sobrenesse. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 186 With great cautele least any parte of their legges or feete bee seene. 1613 Sherley Trav. Persia 78 As I would preserue my selfe with more cautel heereafter. 1664 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 170 To entertain them in mutual cautele and suspicion. |
4. A precaution; in Law, etc., an exception, restriction, or reservation made for precaution's sake.
| 1541 Elyot Image Gov. 37 One meruailouse cautell he vsed, that is to saie, one man was not oftentymes in that truste of espial. 1563 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 202/2 Without cautels & exceptions. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 53 Revlis and cautelis to be obseruit and eschewit in Scottis Poesie. 1586 Fulke Agst. Allen 418 (T.) For cautele and provision against the like sins. 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. iii. viii. 191 Which negative Excommunication, is..either a bare punishment, or a cautell and animadversion. 1861 C. W. Goodwin Mosaic Cosmog. in Ess. & Rev. 209 With such limitations, cautels and equivocations. |
b. Eccl. A caution or direction for the proper administration of the sacraments; esp. in cautels of the Mass.
| 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 308/2 Why doe not by this reason your owne priestes abstayne from the wine, seeing that this perill may also chaunce to them, as your cautelles of y⊇ Masse doe graunt. 1638 Featly Strict. Lyndom. i. 61 The cautels of the Masse appoint what is to bee done in case the Priest, being drunk before, cast up the host. 1641 R. B. K. Parallel Liturgy w. Mass-bk. 59 As we may see in these two cautels of the Masse. 1880 Edin. Rev. Apr. 286 The reception on the part of certain Ritualists of the Roman ‘Cautels’ for the celebration of the Mass. |
¶ As adj. = cautelous.
| 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Ivstine's Hist. 108 Mistrusting himselfe to be deceiued by some cautel treason. 1616 Bullokar, Cautele, warie, circumspect. 1639 G. Daniel Ecclus. xii. 31 Be circumspect and Cautele to thy foe. |
▪ II. † ˈcautel, v. Obs. rare—1.
[f. prec. n.; cf. OF. cauteler, cauteller ‘to deceiue, beguile, cousen’ (Cotgr.).]
trans. To devise cunningly or craftily.
| 1603 Harsnet Pop. Impost. 62 It was wisely cauteled by the penner of these savoury Miracles..why Sara..should be more Devil-haunted then any of the possessed Men. |