wile

Pluralwiles

Formswiles, wiling, wiled

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A cunning trick or scheme meant to deceive or ensnare someone; a sly, crafty maneuver.

   Like a chess player's feint that hides the real attack.

   The fox relied on every wile it knew to lure the hens from their coop.

   Her sharp suspicion saw through the salesman's wiles at once.

   Similartrick, ruse, ploy, stratagem, scheme

   Note

   A word that almost always travels in the plural: her wiles, plots and wiles, or 'the insidious wiles of foreign influence' in George Washington's Farewell Address (1796). English took it from two sources at once, Old English wīl, 'trick', and Old Northern French wile, 'guile'. Both go back to a root meaning 'to turn, bend', which suits a word for getting your way by indirection.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To attract or lure someone, especially through charm or trickery.

   Like a siren's song drawing ships toward the rocks.

   Smugglers would wile unsuspecting sailors aboard with promises of easy pay.

   He wiled the investors into a scheme that promised impossible returns.

   Similarlure, entice, beguile, coax, tempt

   Note

   The noun put to work: to wile someone is to use wiles on them. It takes an object and usually a direction. In John Buchan's The Outgoing of the Tide (1902), a smooth talker has a tongue that 'would have wiled the bird from the tree'. Keep it apart from wile away, which is a slip for while away and is about passing time, not luring anyone.

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