delude, v.
(dɪˈl(j)uːd)
[ad. L. dēlūd-ĕre to play false, mock, deceive, f. de- I. 4 + lūdere to play. (Cf. rare obs. F. deluder, 1402 in Godef.)]
† 1. trans. To play with (any one) to his injury or frustration, under pretence of acting seriously; to mock, esp. in hopes, expectations, or purposes; to cheat or disappoint the hopes of. Obs.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxxiv. 270 The Cristen prynces seinge that they were thus deluded. 1543 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 170 A man that..hadde deluded wyth delayes the..commissioners. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 35 There is no Husbandman but tills and sowes in hope of a good crop, though manie times he is deluded with a bad Haruest. 1630 Dekker 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 138 Yet sure i'th end he'll delude all my hopes. 1671 Milton Samson 396 Thrice I deluded her, and turned to sport Her importunity. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. vi. 30 For by the fraudful God deluded long, They now resolve to have their promis'd Song. |
b. To disappoint or deprive of by fraud or deceit; to defraud of.
| 1493 Petronilla 99 Of his purpos Flaccus was deludyd. c 1585 Faire Em iii. 904 Whose ransom..I am deluded of by this escape. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 88 Yong men..cautelously..deluded of that, whereunto both their parents and birth do commend them. 1594 Marlowe & Nashe Dido v. Wks. (Rtldg.) 272/2 Thou for some petty gift hast let him go, And I am thus deluded of my boy. |
† 2. To deride, mock, laugh at. Obs. rare.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 153) 300 b, Thus beaten and deluded Annas sent the bounde to Cayphas. 1586 [cf. deluder]. |
3. To befool the mind or judgement of, so as to cause what is false to be accepted as true; to bring by deceit into a false opinion or belief; to cheat, deceive, beguile; to impose upon with false impressions or notions.
| c 1450 Henryson Compl. Creseide (R.), The idol of a thing in case may be So depe emprinted in the fantasie That it deludeth the wittes outwardly. 1526 Tindale Acts viii. 11 With Sorcery he had deluded their wittes. 1532 Frith Mirror (1829) 272 God..cannot be deluded, although the world may be blinded. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 81 They are seven as arrant imposters as ever deluded the credulous world. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman I. xxii. 211 The world are taken in, deluded, and imposed upon by outside and tinsel. 1853 Bright Sp. India 3 June, A system which obscured responsibility and deluded public opinion. |
b. with extension (on, to, into).
| a 1643 W. Cartwright Lady-Errant iv. i, Go, and delude them on. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xv. 259 The many stratagems he made use of, to delude mankind to their ruin. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 512 Let no one be deluded by poets..into a mistaken belief of such things. |
† 4. To frustrate the aim or purpose of; to elude, evade. Obs.
| 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, c. 5 Diuers..haue..practised to defraude and delude the sayd..statutes. 1600 Hosp. Inc. Fooles 58 Thus did he delude the last blow of this despiteful Foole. 1601 Holland Pliny x. l, There was a starting hole found to delude and escape the meaning thereof. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 11 The 7. of June she againe deluded us, after two houres chase. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xli. (1739) 66 The entailing of Estates..was very ancient, although by corrupt custom it was deluded. 1680 Dryden Ovid's Ep. vii. (R.), Tyber now thou seek'st..Yet it deludes thy search. |
† 5. To beguile (time). Obs.
| 1615 Val. Welshm. (1663) B ij b, I need not here delude The precious time. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. Pref. 1 In entertaining worldly pleasures, thereby to delude, and spend their time. |