▪ I. tempt, v.
(tɛm(p)t)
Forms: 3– tempt, 3–7 temt, 4–6 (Sc. -9) temp.
[a. OF. and AF. tempte-r (12–14th c.), learned form, beside the popular form tenter, tanter:—L. temptāre, temtāre to handle, touch, feel, try the strength of, put to the test, try, attempt: cf. Pr. temptar, Cat., Sp., Pg. tentar, It. tentare. The Eng. form has always followed L. tem(p)tare, the form tent being very rare (see tent v.2); but the n. temptation had from 13th c. the collateral form tentation, which during the 16th and 17th c. was much used by theological writers.
In inscriptions and early MSS., the Latin vb. is always tempt- or temtāre; this became in due course tentāre in Romanic (see above, and cf. promptus, pronto, etc.); about the 13th c. scribes began to introduce this spelling in Latin MSS., whence it came into printed books and Latin Dicts., being supported by an assumed etymology as freq. of tendĕre, tentum to stretch, strive, aim, endeavour, try (meeting at length with sense 3 below); but this is now rejected in favour of a root tem-, temp-: see Walde Lat. Etym. Wörterbuch s.v. tempto.
Sense 4, a later development in L., common in the Vulgate and Christian use, is the earliest recorded in Eng.]
I. To test, put to the test, try.
† 1. To try, make trial of, put to the test or proof; to try the quality, worth, or truth of. Obs. exc. as in 2.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5030 Lauerd..þat..tempted abraham þi dere Of his aun sun offrand to mak. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxii. 1 Aftyr that thes thingis weren doon, God temptide [1388 assaiede] Abraham [1535 Coverd. ibid., After these actes God tempted Abraham; 1611 Bible ibid., It came to pass after these things, that God did tempt [1885 (R.V.) prove] Abraham]. 1382 ― Dan. i. 12 Tempte [gloss or assaie; 1535 Coverd. Proue with; 1611, 1885 Prove] vs thi seruauntis ten days, and be potage ȝouen to vs for to ete. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 402 He hadde assayed hire ynogh bifore..what neded it Hire for to tempte and alwey moore and moore? 1390 Gower Conf. III. 45 With questions echon of tho He tempteth ofte. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 73/1 The quene of Saba cam fro fer contreys to see hym & to tempte hym in demaundes and questyons. 1538 Starkey England ii. i. 176 To haue some [sick persons] to go aboute..to proue and tempt theyr louyng charyte. 16.. Sir W. Mure Sonn. iii. 6 To try my treuth and temp my loyall loue. a 1644 Quarles Hieroglyph. xiii. Wks. 1881 III. 195 Tempt not your Salt beyond her power. |
† b. transf. To act upon as a ‘trial’ or severe test; to try with afflictions; to afflict sorely, distress. Cf. attempt v. 4. Obs. rare.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 283 Felle temptande tene towched his hert. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 152 b/2 And thise xvii first yere I was moche tempted by the brennyng of the sonne moche asprely. |
2. To make trial of, put to the proof, or test, in a way that involves risk or peril. a. to tempt God: to put to the test, or experiment presumptuously upon, His power, forbearance, etc.; to try how far one can go with Him; hence sometimes passing into ‘to provoke, defy’. So to tempt providence, etc.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxvii. 21 Þai tempte god þat puttis þaim selfe in any perill forto fande if god will delyuer þaim. 1382 Wyclif Deut. vi. 16 Thow shalt not tempte the Lord thi God, as thow hast temptid in the place of temptynge. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 43 He tempteth hevene and erthe and helle. 1533 Gau Richt Vay (S.T.S.) 12 Thay sine alsua aganis this command that tempis god. 1552 Huloet, Tempt or prouoke, pellitio, tento, temto, verso. 1611 Bible Acts v. 9 How is it that yee have agreed together, to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? 1714 Swift Pres. St. Affairs ¶22 Religion teacheth us, that providence ought not to be tempted. 1715–20 Pope Iliad v. 44 Nor tempt the wrath of Heav'ns avenging Sire. |
b. In to tempt fate, tempt fortune, etc., the sense approaches a.
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 119 Who thus overthrowne, resolved no more to tempt fortune. 1693 Creech in Dryden's Juvenal xiii. (1697) 339 Thy Perjur'd Friend will quickly tempt his Fate. 1746 Francis tr. Hor., Epist. i. i. 9 Wisely resolv'd to tempt his Fate no more. |
c. to tempt (the storm, flood, sea, etc.): to adventure oneself in or upon; to risk the perils of. (Cf. attempt v. 2.) Chiefly poet. Also to tempt the worst, tempt reprisals, etc.
| 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 404 Who shall tempt with wandring feet The dark unbottom'd infinite Abyss? 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 123 The first to lead the Way, to tempt the Flood. Ibid. 581 Nor tempt th' inclemency of Heav'n abroad. 1703 Rowe Ulyss. iv. i, Know'st thou what 'tis to tempt a Rage like mine? 1704 Pope Windsor For. 389 Tempt icy seas, where scarce the waters roll. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, I will tempt the worst at once. 1835 J. P. Kennedy Horse Shoe R. lii, [They] preferred to tempt the rigors of the mountain rather than remain in their own dwellings. |
† 3. To try, endeavour, essay: with inf. (to do something), or equiv. clause; = attempt v. 1.
Sometimes aphetic for attempt.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxii. (Laurentius) 697 Þe feynd, þat ay wil besy be to tempt þat þame twa had Inwy. 1382 Wyclif 2 Macc. ii. 24 So we temptiden, or assayeden, for to abregge in to oo boke, thingus comprehendid..in fyue bookis. ― Acts xvi. 7 Whanne thei camen into Misye, thei temptiden [Coverd. proved, 1611 assayed] for to go into Bithinie. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxiv. 88 Whan Chilperich had temptyd by many sondrye meanes to haue theym out of the sayde preuylege. 1538 Starkey England i. i. 21 Yet in some tyme and certayn place hyt ys not to be temptyd of wyse men [to meddyl wyth materys perteynyng to the wele of hys hole cuntrey]. |
b. with simple object. To attempt, to try.
| 1697 Dryden æneid vi. 214 Ere leave be giv'n to tempt the nether skies. [1730 Swift Panegyrick on Dean 324 In vain I 'tempt too high a flight.] |
† c. To make an attempt upon, to try to obtain; to assail. (Aphetic for attempt.) Obs.
| a 1721 Prior Henry & Emma 518 O wretched maid! Whose roving fancy would resolve the same With him, who next should tempt her easy fame. 1746 Francis tr. Hor., Epist. i. xviii. 127 Be not by foolish Love betray'd To tempt your Patron's favourite Maid. |
II. To try to attract, allure, incite, induce.
4. trans. To try to attract, to entice (a person) to do evil; to present attractions to the passions or frailties of; to allure or incite to evil with the prospect of some pleasure or advantage. Const. to something, to do something. Also absol. (The earliest use in Eng.)
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 60 Tauh ne rouhte heo neuer þauh he þouhte toward hire, & were of hire itempted [MS. Cott. ifondet]. Ibid. 226 Strongliche was he itemted er he so ueolle. a 1300 Cursor M. 15654 (Cott.) Rises vp, and wakes wel, Ar yee tempted [Gött. tempid] be. a 1340 Hampole Psalter lv. 1 Þe deuel, þat neuyre styntis to temp þi seruauntis. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 107 To praye þat we be nouȝt ytempted of þe fende. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 127 Ane vnwyse confessur began to tempe hur vnto syn. c 1450 Cov. Myst. xxv. (Shaks. Soc.) 240 Thryes I tempte hym..Aftyr he fast fourty days. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiv. 2 Me thocht the Devill wes tempand fast The peple. 1530 Palsgr. 754/1 He hath tempted me..to go a thevynge with hym. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke iii. 48 b, Adam also was tempted, and ouercomed: Christe beeyng tempted, ouercame the temptour. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. iv. 93. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 317 Then they tempted the Fidelity of Caspar Ensem the Governour, both by Rewards and Terrour, but he was resolv'd against both. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 296 For hee who tempts, though in vain, at least asperses The tempted with dishonour foul. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Tempt, to allure or entice, to egg on or set a-gog, to induce to Evil. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix, Only when I've been very much tempted. 1869 Spurgeon J. Ploughm. Talk 9 Idle men tempt the devil to tempt them. |
b. To try to draw (a person) to contradict, confute, or commit himself. arch.
(In N.T. versions, repr. Vulg. tem(p)tare, Gr. πειράζειν.)
| 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxii. 35 Oon of hem, a techer of the lawe, axede Jhesus, temptynge hym, Maistre, whiche is a greet maundement in the lawe? ― John viii. 6 Sothli thei seiden this thing temptinge him, that thei myȝten accuse him. ― Mark xii. 15 What tempten ȝe me? brynge ȝe to me a peny, that I se. 1526 Tindale ibid., Why tempte ye me? Brynge me a peny, that I maye se yt. [So 1611 and R.V. 1881.] |
5. To attract or incite to some action or to do something; to allure, entice, invite, attract; to dispose, incline. Sometimes, contextually, To induce, persuade.
| 1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 98 Þat i ne am temted ful tid to turne me þennus. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 226 b, The vsing of such gentill fashions toward them,..so tempted theim that they could none otherwise do. a 1674 Clarendon Surv. Leviath. (1676) 15 Which might temt him to under⁓value. 1716 Gay Trivia i. 164 The rowing crew, To tempt a fare, clothe all their tilts in blue. 1742 W. Collins Pers. Ecl. iv. 31 Unhappy land! whose blessings tempt the sword. 1825 Scott Betrothed xix, He was tempted to think that he had been something hasty in listening to the arguments of the Archbishop. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 42 The sick are tempted by pleasant meats and drinks. Mod. One is tempted to think that it had been pre-arranged. The fine morning had tempted many out. |
Hence ˈtempted ppl. a. (also absol.).
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. 5 Sothely I haue na wondyr if þe temptid fall. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vi. 8 If thou hast sin'd, Teach me (thy tempted subiect) to excuse it. 1603 [see tempter 1]. c 1611 Chapman Iliad x. 436 Lest from their tempted rest Some other God should stir the foe. 1667 [see 4]. 1839 Bailey Festus xxix. (1852) 484 May God forbear, To judge the tempted purpose of my heart! 1844 Mrs. Browning Brown Rosary xiv, The Tempted is sinning. |
▪ II. † tempt, n. Obs. rare.
[app. aphetic f. attempt n.]
= attempt n.
| 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxvi. §6 By the issues of all tempts they found no certaine conclusion but this. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. viii. xxxvii, Because Gods æqual, Serpents tempts are quell'd. a 1668 R. Lassels Voy. Italy (1670) I. 114 Which [Castle] staveth off all tempts of strangers. |