Wile v.

[f. WILE sb., or aphetic f. BEWILE.]

  † 1.  trans. To deceive by a wile; to beguile, delude. Obs. rare (exc. as implied in other senses).

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xxx. (Theodera), 311. Quhat, wenys þu I wald þe wile, Gud douchtir?

  2.  To bring, draw or get by a wile (a person or animal to or from a place, course of action, etc., or a thing from a person); to lead, induce or obtain by craft or cunning.

a. 1400.  Pistill of Susan, 213. Wylyliche heo wyled hir wenches a-way.

c. 1400.  Beryn, 2691. Ȝit som ageyn hym wyled A grete part of his pepill.

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., viii. 233. Whence is yond warlow with his wand that thus wold wyle oure folk away?

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 709. Allace, that I was hidder wylit.

a. 1500.  Coventry Corpus Chr. Pl., ii. 840. From vs no man wyll hym wyle.

c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xxxiv. 26. The wysest woman þairout W^t wirdis may be wyllit To do þe deid.

1572.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxxviii. 36. As the fals fowler … Deuoiris the pure volatill he wylis to the net.

1590.  Greene, Orl. Fur. (1599), 54. When Iuno wil’d the trull.

1599.  T. Cutwode, Caltha Poet. (Roxb.), xxiii. Wyelling fond louers sometime from their wits.

a. 1600.  Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, xl. 13. My wofull hairt auay with thee thou wyld, Fra me to be exyld.

1789.  Burns, Blue-Eyed Lassie, 9. She talk’d, she smil’d, my heart she wil’d.

1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxii. He could wile the very flounders out o’ the Firth.

1853.  Mrs. Gaskell, Ruth, xviii. He’s such winning ways he wiles one over to anything.

1879.  Stevenson, Lay Morals, etc. (1911), 297. She could neither be driven nor wiled into the parish kirk.

  fig.  1847.  Tennyson, Princess, VII. 48. To wile the length from languorous hours, and draw The sting from pain.

  † b.  refl. To get away by stealth, steal away.

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 3908. Whills he myghte wile hyme awaye, and wyne to hir speche.

  3.  (as a substitute for WHILE v. 3) To divert attention pleasantly from (something painful or tedious); to charm away; esp. to cause (time) to pass away pleasantly or insensibly: = BEGUILE v. 5.

  Cf. L. decipere tempus, F. tromper le temps.

1796.  Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, III. x. He persuaded his sisters, therefore, to walk out with him, to wile away at once expectation and retrospection.

1810.  Scott, Lady of L., II. x. Her smile … Wiled the old harper’s mood away.

1817.  Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxiv. II. 379. Happy industry, that wiles the toils of labour with a song.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xlvi. I was reading a book to-night, to wile the time away.

1840.  E. E. Napier, Scenes & Sports For. Lands, II. v. 172. We … used to wile away the day with all manner of fun.

1889.  ‘Vernon Lee,’ Italy, II. iii. 59. Foreigners who came to study art or to wile away a lazy existence.

  Hence Wiling vbl. sb.

1583.  Leg. Bp. St. Androis, 971. The vther … Concludit schortlie for to slea him, For vyling of his syluer fra him.