BEGUILE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does beguile mean? 

• BEGUILE (verb)
  The verb BEGUILE has 2 senses:

1. influence by slyness

2. attract; cause to be enamored

  Familiarity information: BEGUILE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BEGUILE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they beguile    ... he / she / it beguiles   
Past simple: beguiled   
Past participle: beguiled   
-ing form: beguiling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Influence by slyness

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

beguile; hoodwink; juggle

Hypernyms (to "beguile" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

beguiler (someone who leads you to believe something that is not true)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Attract; cause to be enamored

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

becharm; beguile; bewitch; captivate; capture; catch; charm; enamor; enamour; enchant; entrance; fascinate; trance

Context example:

She captured all the men's hearts

Hypernyms (to "beguile" is one way to...):

appeal; attract (be attractive to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "beguile"):

hold (hold the attention of)

work (gratify and charm, usually in order to influence)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to beguile Sue

Derivation:

beguilement (magnetic personal charm)

beguiler (a person who charms others (usually by personal attractiveness))

 Context examples 

His particular specialty is the beguiling of lonely ladies by playing upon their religious feelings, and his so-called wife, an Englishwoman named Fraser, is a worthy helpmate.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

John and Alleyne rode silent on either side, but every inn, farm-steading, or castle brought back to Aylward some remembrance of love, foray, or plunder, with which to beguile the way.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That a man of the world, five-and-forty years of age, shrewd, honest, and acquainted with Courts, should be beguiled by such crude and coarse homage, amazed me, as it did all who knew him; but you who have seen much of life do not need to be told how often the strongest and noblest nature has its one inexplicable weakness, showing up the more obviously in contrast to the rest, as the dark stain looks the fouler upon the whitest sheet.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Often when she woke Jo found Beth reading in her well-worn little book, heard her singing softly, to beguile the sleepless night, or saw her lean her face upon her hands, while slow tears dropped through the transparent fingers, and Jo would lie watching her with thoughts too deep for tears, feeling that Beth, in her simple, unselfish way, was trying to wean herself from the dear old life, and fit herself for the life to come, by sacred words of comfort, quiet prayers, and the music she loved so well.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Blanche Ingram, after having repelled, by supercilious taciturnity, some efforts of Mrs. Dent and Mrs. Eshton to draw her into conversation, had first murmured over some sentimental tunes and airs on the piano, and then, having fetched a novel from the library, had flung herself in haughty listlessness on a sofa, and prepared to beguile, by the spell of fiction, the tedious hours of absence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

As the omnibus contained only one other passenger, a sleepy old lady, Amy pocketed her veil and beguiled the tedium of the way by trying to find out where all her money had gone to.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)