[f. ANGLE sb.1; cf. to hook.]
1. To use an angle; to fish with a hook and bait. a. intr. Const. for (to obs.).
1496. Bk. St. Albans, in Eng. Home (1861), 66. [The most] stately ffyssh that ony may angle to in freshe water.
1530. Palsgr., 431/2. It is but a sory lyfe and an yuell to stand anglynge all day to catche a fewe fysshes.
1593. Nashe, 4 Lett. Confut., 5. Let them not … angle for frogs in a cleare fountaine.
1653. Walton, Angler, 52. The fish which we are to Angle for.
1741. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. ii. 338. Always angle in black or dark-colour’d Cloaths.
1850. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), IV. xxxviii. 324. He would … listlessly angle in the placid waters.
b. trans. To angle (a stream, etc.). rare.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xxiv. 610. Fishermen licensed either to angle or net parts of the piscary.
2. fig. To use artful or wily means to catch a person or thing, or elicit an opinion; to lay oneself out for, to ‘fish.’ a. intr. Const. for.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet, Pref. 3. I doo but yet angle with a silken flye, to see whether Martins will nibble.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, V. iii. 212. She … did angle for mee, Madding my eagernesse with her restraint.
1750. Chesterf., Lett., 255, III. 19. Modesty is the only sure bait, when you angle for praise.
1799. Southey, Love Eleg., iii. II. 125. The subtile line Wherewith the urchin angled for my Heart.
1867. Disraeli, in Morn. Star, 12 Feb. We are not angling for a policy; we have distinct principles which will guide us.
† b. trans. with the thing wanted as object. Obs.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. xv. (1590), 169 b (J.). If he spake curteously, he angled the peoples harts.
1597. Daniel, Civ. Wares, VIII. xlvi. To angle the benevolence And catch the love of men with curtesies.
a. 1683. Oldham, Wks. & Rem. (1686), 85. Shooes which … angled their Charity, that pass’d along.
† c. trans. To angle one on: to draw him onward by holding out a bait. Obs. rare.
1653. Walton, Angler, 38. You have Angled me on with much pleasure to the thatcht House.
