v. [ad. L. allūd-ĕre to play with, joke or jest at, dally with, touch lightly upon a subject; f. al- = ad- to + līdĕre to play.]
† 1. trans. To play with, make game of, mock. Obs.
1535. Henry VIII., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. II. App. liii. Making him [the Pope] a God, to the great deceit, alluding, and seducing of our subjects.
1577. Dee, Relat. ab. Spirits, I. (1659), 418. E. K. then came to me and said, I think there is some wicked spirit that would allude me.
† 2. To play upon words, to refer by play of words: a. intr. To play upon, or make a play with (words); to pun. b. trans. To refer by word-play, to apply punningly. c. intr. To have a punning reference. Obs.
1553–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 1/1. Christ … alluding to his [St. Peter’s] name, called him a rock.
1556. Recorde, Cast. Knowl., 4. There canne be no such allusion of woordes in the englyshe … except a man wold rather allude at the woordes, than expresse the sentence.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., v. (1628), 148. In respect of Pope Gregory his alluding the name of Engelisce vnto Angellike. Ibid., v. 141. The reuerent Father perceiuing this name to alude vnto the name of Angeli.
1607. Topsell, Four-footed Beasts, 117. Gray-hounds … called Windspill, alluding to compare their swiftness with the winde.
† 3. To refer by the play of fancy. a. trans. To refer (a thing) fancifully or figuratively, to compare symbolically, to (something else). b. intr. To have a fanciful or figurative reference, to correspond in a figure, to (something else). Obs.
1596. Harington, Ulysses upon Ajax (1814), 70. Now, to allude this, Philaretes, in this sort conceit me.
1613. T. Adams, Pract. Wks. (1861), II. 10 (D.). Some have alluded these three, gold, myrrh, and frankincense, to … faith, hope, and charity.
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks. (N.). Ile at last allude her to a water-man.
1647. Crashaw, Poems, 209. Hills and relentless rocks, or if there be Things that in hardness more allude to thee.
1655. [See ALLUDING a.]
1665. Wither, Lord’s Prayer, 133. The holy Ghost alludes not our most wise Creator to a foolish Potter.
4. intr. To have an oblique, covert, or indirect reference, to point as it were in passing.
1533. More, Apol., viii. Wks. 1557, 860/1. These wordes … allude vnto certaine woordes of Tyndall.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 11, ¶ 1. Quotations which allude to the Perjuries of the Fair. Ibid. (1713), Englishm., No. 50. 319. The following Letter alludes to an Edition of a Discourse printed in Ireland.
Mod. This expression evidently alludes to some circumstance then well known but now forgotten.
5. intr. To make an indirect or passing reference, to glance at, refer indirectly to. (Often used ignorantly as = refer in its general sense.)
1574. Whitgift, Def. Answ., i. (1851), I. 162. In a family the master is above the servant … whereunto Christ himself alludeth.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 251. The Apostle expoundeth, and not only alludeth to these words.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 510, ¶ 3. He alludes to enterprises which he cannot reveal but with the hazard of his life.
1772. Gilpin, Observ. Picturesque Beauty (1786), 225 (R.). The people of the country, alluding to the whiteness of it’s foam, call it sour-milk force.
1837. J. Harris, Gt. Teacher, 307. He often alluded to his poverty.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., iv. 291. I allude to my parents.
† 6. trans. To refer (a thing) as applicable, appropriate, or belonging, to (as a saying to that to which it refers, a name to its owner, a thing to its author). Obs.
1607. Topsell, Four-footed Beasts, 187. Men for honour of Bacchus, did dance upon certain Bottles made of Goats skins … whereunto Virgil alluded this saying; Mollibus in pratis unctos saliere per utres.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 137. Ninus … built Ninive, though some allude it to Assur.
† 7. trans. (with obj., inf., or subord. cl.) To throw out by the way, to hint, suggest. Obs.
1547. J. Heywood, Wit & Folly, 12. I glanset at payne of mynd, allewdyng That payne to be most payne.
1587. Holinshed, Chron., III. 851/1. The king of Spaine alluded with good right, that the empire apperteined to him.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., III. vii. 285. To excuse this unexperienced Notion … they allude these ensuing Apologies.
