In the 18th century, the Swedish government made coffee and its paraphernalia (including cups and dishes) illegal for its supposed ties to rebellious sentiment.
WILE
trickery, chicanery, chicane, guile, wile, shenanigan
(noun) the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
wile (plural wiles)
(usually, in the plural) A trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice
Synonyms
• beguilement
• allurement
Verb
wile (third-person singular simple present wiles, present participle wiling, simple past and past participle wiled)
To entice or lure
Archaic form of while (āto pass the timeā)
Usage notes
The phrase meaning to pass time idly is while away. We can trace the meaning in an adjectival sense for while back to Old English, hwīlen, "passing, transitory". It is also seen in whilend, "temporary, transitory". But since wile away occurs so often, it is now included in many dictionaries.
Anagrams
• Lewi, Liew, Weil, lwei
Etymology
Proper noun
Wile
A surname.
(rare) A male given name from surnames.
Anagrams
• Lewi, Liew, Weil, lwei
Source: Wiktionary
Wile, n. Etym: [OE. wile, AS. wil; cf. Icel. v, vƦl. Cf. Guile.]
Definition: A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Eph. vi. 11. Not more almighty to resist our might, Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. Milton.
Wile, v. t.
1. To practice artifice upon; to deceive; to beguile; to allure. [R.] Spenser.
2. To draw or turn away, as by diversion; to while or while away; to cause to pass pleasantly. Tennyson.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
24 December 2024
INTUITIVELY
(adverb) in an intuitive manner; āinventors seem to have chosen intuitively a combination of explosive and aggressive sounds as warning signals to be used on automobilesā
Coffee Trivia
