▪ I. intrigue, n.
(ɪnˈtriːg)
Also 7 in-, entreague, intregue, -iegue; intrique, -eque.
[a. F. intrigue, formerly intrique (16–17th c.), ad. It. intrigo, -ico, f. intrigare, -care to intricate, entangle, entrap:—L. intrīcāre: see intricate a.]
† 1. Intricacy, complexity; a complicated contrivance; a maze, a labyrinth. Obs.
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Intrique, an intricacy, labyrinth, maze, incumbrance, difficulty. Cressy. 1660 Chas. II.'s escape fr. Worcester in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 382 His majesty was had to his lodging, and the intrigues of it shewn him. 1673 Ray Trav. (1738) I. 419 A famous engine to raise up water..There is so little of it remaining that it is impossible thence to find out all the contrivance and intrigue of it. 1686 Goad Celest. Bodies i. iv. 11 No finite Knowledge can be comprehensive of an Effect..in every minute Intrigue of Nature. |
† b. fig. An intricate or complicated state of affairs; an involved mode of action. Obs.
| 1660 Jer. Taylor Duct. Dubit. (L.), There are so many certain but indiscernible fallibilities, so many intrigues of fancy in the disputers. 1693 South Serm. 332 To look into the little intrigues of matter and motion. 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 106 To unravel (if I may say so) all the Intreagues betwixt God and Man. |
2. The exertion of tortuous or underhand influence to accomplish some purpose; underhand plotting or scheming.
| 1668 E. Howard Usurper Ep. A ij b, Intregue (the true Soul and Genius of the Stage). 1769 Robertson Chas. V, vi. Wks. 1813 VI. 107 A spirit of action and intrigue is infused into all its members. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. iii. 110 A complicated scene..of plotting and intrigue. |
b. (with pl.) A plot to accomplish a purpose by tortuous or underhand influence.
| 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §23 According to the mysteries and intrigues of State. 1692 Dryden St. Euremont's Ess. 345 He was made Cardinal by Intrigues, Factions, and Tumults. 1767 Junius Lett. xv. 63 You have fairly confounded the intrigues of opposition. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 121 It is also quite possible that the Primate of Normandy himself had a share in his brother's intrigues. |
† 3. The plot of a play, poem, or romance. Obs.
| 1651 Davenant Gondibert Pref. 23 The third [act] makes a visible correspondence in the under-walks (or lesser intrigues) of persons; and ends with an ample turn of the main design. 1676 Coles, Entreague,..also a story (after many entangled passages) brought to a calm end. 1678 Phillips (ed. 4) s.v. Intricacy, Also Intrigue or Intreague, the various and subtle intercourse of passages in the Plot of a Play. 1725 Pope Odyss. I. View Epic Poem p. xv, As these Causes are the Beginning of the Action, the opposite Designs against that of the Hero are the Middle of it, and form that Difficulty or Intrigue which makes up the greatest part of the Poem. |
4. Clandestine illicit intimacy between a man and a woman; a liaison.
| 1668 Charleton Ephes. & Cimm. Matrons. ii. Pref., She in like manner falls into an Intrigue (as they now adays call it). 1673 Dryden Marr. à la Mode ii. i. Wks. 1883 IV. 279 Intrigue, Philotis! that's an old phrase; I have laid that word by; amour sounds better. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 276 ¶1 Taken in an Intrigue with another Man's Wife. 1883 C. J. Wills Mod. Persia 276 In Shiraz, where intrigues among married women are very rife. |
b. transf. The combination of queen and knave in certain games of cards.
| 1830 ‘Eidrah Trebor’ Hoyle made familiar, Pope Joan 82 Matrimony is the king and queen, and Intrigue the knave and queen of trumps; the players of these cards take the pools belonging to them. Ibid. 83 The game [of Matrimony] consists of five chances, viz. Matrimony, which is king and queen: Confederacy, king and knave; Intrigue, queen and knave [etc.]. 1887 All Year Round 5 Feb. 66 There was Intrigue, that unhallowed flirtation between Queen and Knave. |
▪ II. intrigue, v.
(ɪnˈtriːg)
Also 7 intreag.
[a. F. intrigue-r, ad. It. intrigare:—L. intrīcāre: see intricate a. OF. had entriquer, intriquer, whence entrike, intrike.]
1. trans. To trick, deceive, cheat; to embarrass, puzzle, perplex. Now rare.
| 1612 Trav. Four Englishm. 68 He that trusteth to a Greeke, Shall be intreaged, and still to seeke. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 135 Who..were basely intrigu'd by the People..and forc'd to redeem their Lives at a great Sum of Money. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 40 To intrigue and baffle a brave and meritorious people out of their rights and liberties. 1894 Month May 122. |
2. To entangle, involve; to cause to be entangled or involved, to implicate. Now rare.
| a 1677 Barrow Wks. (1686) II. Serm. xxiii. 338 It doth not seem worth the while..with more subtilty to intrigue the Point. 1681 J. Scott Chr. Life i. iv. (R.), How doth it perplex and intrigue the whole course of your lives, and intangle ye in a labyrinth of knavish tricks and collusions. 1690 Child Disc. Trade Pref. (1694) 43 The way..is not..hidden from us in the dark, or intrigued with difficulties. 1899 Speaker 4 Feb. 152/2 This intrigues us against his Holiness. |
3. intr. To carry on a secret amour or illicit intimacy; to have a liaison.
| 1660 Pepys Diary 10 Dec., He and others had intrigued with her often. 1666 Ibid. 15 Oct., All the people..do make no scruple of saying that the King do intrigue with Mrs. Stewart. 1710 E. Ward Vulgus Brit. ii. 28 So Jilts wed those they ne'er affected, Purely t'intrigue the less suspected. 1879 Froude Cæsar xi. 119 He had intrigued with a Vestal virgin. |
4. a. intr. To carry on underhand plotting or scheming; to employ secret influence for the accomplishment of designs; to make an intrigue.
| a 1714 Burnet Hist. Ref. an. 1527 (R.) That the cardinal of York was not satisfied to be intriguing for the popedom after his death, but was aspiring to it while he was alive. 1791 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 354 They tell me that the Queen is now intriguing with Mirabeau. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 155 That fortnight Rochester passed in intriguing and imploring. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. §8. 104 At Rome, at Paris the agents of the two powers intrigued against each other. |
† b. trans. To plot; to scheme for. Obs.
| 1747 H. Walpole Lett. to Mann 26 June, The Duchess of Queensberry has at last been at court; a point she has been intriguing these two years. |
c. To bring or get by intrigue.
| 1673 O. Walker Educ. ii. vii. (ed. 2) 277 Whose designs are to intrigue themselves into business. 1839 Standard 15 May in Spirit Metropol. Conserv. Press (1840) I. 378 The charge against Lord Canterbury, that he had intrigued out Lord Melbourne. 1839 John Bull 28 July ibid. II. 253 A bill for giving a charter to Birmingham was shamefully smuggled and intrigued through. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby i. ii. 12 Rigby, who had already intrigued himself into a subordinate office. 1864 Sala in Daily Tel. 26 Feb., He would have been ousted or intrigued out of office some years ago. |
5. trans. To excite the curiosity or interest of; to interest so as to puzzle or fascinate. Also absol. (A modern gallicism.)
| 1894 Month May 122 The publishers often become so intrigued by these claims of authorship, that we find them at times passing by the matter altogether. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 1 May 2/1 The authorship of the piece..attributed by Mr. W―, intent upon intriguing the public, to a ‘Member of Parliament’. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 5 Dec. 2/2 We do agree most heartily, but the observation intrigues us not a little. 1909 H. G. Wells Ann Veronica iii. 78 The New Woman and the New Girl intrigue me profoundly. 1918 A. Quiller-Couch Stud. in Lit. 1st Ser. 147 These theological poets and preachers of the seventeenth century..were intrigued..by man's lapse from a state of innocence. 1924 W. M. Raine Troubled Waters xxi. 225 The conspiracy she proposed intrigued his interest. 1957 Partridge English gone Wrong i. 9 Such words as..‘to be intrigued’ for ‘deeply or much interested’..have degenerated from definite sense to indefinite nonsense. |