ensnare, v.
(ɛnˈsnɛə(r))
Also 6–9 insnare.
[f. en-1 + snare.]
trans. To catch (animals, etc.) in a snare; to snare. Chiefly transf. and fig. to entangle (persons) in difficulties; to entrap, beguile, lure. Also absol.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 213 Many have beene so insnared and intangled..in nettes of doubtfull reasons. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. iii. 243 That Bottel'd Spider, Whose deadly Web ensnareth thee about. 1768 Beattie Minstr. ii. xxviii, Spiders ensnare, snakes poison, tigers prowl. 1782 V. Knox Ess. (1819) I. liv. 288 Would rather shoot a pheasant or insnare a trout. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 133 These people..ensnare the waterfowl of the ponds and rivers. |
| transf. and fig. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 485 Thy beauty hath ensnar'd thee to this night. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. ix. (1611) 199 That which hath..insnared the iudgements of sundry good..men. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 717 She ensnar'd Mankind with her faire looks. 1685 Baxter Paraphr. N.T. Matt. xxii. 16 They sought to insnare Christ. 1730 Thomson Autumn 1292 Let these Ensnare the wretched in the toils of law. 1749 Smollett Regicide iv. iii, Curse on these faithless drops Which fall but to ensnare! 1866 M. W. Freer Regency Anne Austria II. 18 Ensnared by her beauty and so egregiously duped. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. II. xxxix. 466 A troop of horse, insnared by a false guide in an ambush among large trees. |
Hence
enˈsnared ppl. a.| 1643 Milton Divorce i. xiv. (1851) 56 Committing two ensnared souls..to kindle one another..with a hatred inconcileable. 1658 J. Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1068 The ensnared little creatures..do lie still. |