v. Also 6–9 insnare. [f. EN-1 + SNARE.] trans. To catch (animals, etc.) in a snare; to SNARE. Chiefly transf. and fig. to entangle (persons) in difficulties; to entrap, beguile, lure. Also absol.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., I. iii. 243. That Bottel’d Spider, Whose deadly Web ensnareth thee about.
1768. Beattie, Minstr., II. xxviii. Spiders ensnare, snakes poison, tigers prowl.
1782. V. Knox, Ess. (1819), I. liv. 288. Would rather shoot a pheasant or insnare a trout.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, I. 133. These people … ensnare the waterfowl of the ponds and rivers.
transf. and fig. 1593. Shaks., Lucr., 485. Thy beauty hath ensnar’d thee to this night.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. ix. (1611), 199. That which … hath insnared the iudgements of sundry good … men.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 717. She ensnar’d Mankind with her faire looks.
1685. Baxter, Paraphr. N. T., Matt. xxii. 16. They sought to insnare Christ.
1730. Thomson, Autumn, 1292. Let these Ensnare the wretched in the toils of law.
1749. Smollett, Regicide, IV. iii. Curse on these faithless drops Which fall but to ensnare!
1866. Freer, Regency Anne Austria, II. 18. Ensnared by her beauty and so egregiously duped.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., II. xxxix. 466. A troop of horse, insnared by a false guide in an ambush among large trees.
Hence Ensnared ppl. a.
1643. Milton, Divorce, I. xiv. (1851), 56. Committing two ensnared souls … to kindle one another … with a hatred inconcileable.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1068. The ensnared little creatures … do lie still.
