wile

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

wile, n. [OE. wile, AS. wīl; cf. Icel. vl, væl. Cf. Guile.].

 A trick or stratagem practiced for insnaring or deception; a sly, insidious; artifice; a beguilement; an allurement.  [1913 Webster]
"Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."  [1913 Webster]
"Not more almighty to resist our might,
Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles."  [1913 Webster]

wile, v. t. 

•  To practice artifice upon; to deceive; to beguile; to allure.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  To draw or turn away, as by diversion; to while or while away; to cause to pass pleasantly.  Tennyson.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wile, n. & v.
--n. (usu. in pl.) a stratagem; a trick or cunning procedure.
--v.tr. (foll. by away, into, etc.) lure or entice.

Etymology

ME wil, perh. f. Scand. (ON v{eacute}l craft)

THESAURUS

wile

Italian hand, Machiavellianism, acuteness, allure, ambidexterity, art, artful dodge, artfulness, artifice, astuteness, bad faith, bag of tricks, beguile, bestow, bewitch, blind, bluff, bosey, cageyness, callidity, canniness, captivate, catch, charm, chicane, chicanery, chouse, cleverness, consecrate to, conspiracy, consume, contrivance, coup, craft, craftiness, cunning, cunningness, curve, curve-ball, cute trick, deceit, deceitfulness, dedicate to, design, device, devote, dirty deal, dirty trick, dishonesty, dissimulation, dodge, double-dealing, doubleness, doubleness of heart, draw, duplicity, employ, enchant, expedient, expend, faithlessness, fakement, falseheartedness, falseness, fascinate, fast deal, feint, fetch, ficelle, fine Italian hand, finesse, fleet, foxiness, gambit, game, gamesmanship, gimmick, give over to, give to, googly, grift, guile, hocus-pocus, improbity, ingeniousness, insidiousness, intrigue, inventiveness, joker, juggle, jugglery, knavery, little game, low cunning, magnetize, maneuver, move, one-upmanship, pass, plot, ploy, put in, racket, readiness, red herring, resourcefulness, ruse, satanic cunning, scheme, scurvy trick, sharpness, shift, shiftiness, shrewdness, sleight, sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, slipperiness, slyness, sneakiness, sophistry, spend, stealth, stealthiness, stratagem, strategy, subterfuge, subtilty, subtleness, subtlety, suppleness, tactic, take, treachery, trick, trickery, trickiness, two-facedness, use up, wariness, while, while away, wiles, wiliness, wily device, wit

ROGET THESAURUS

wile

Cunning

N cunning, craft, cunningness, craftiness, subtlety, artificiality, maneuvering, temporization, circumvention, chicane, chicanery, sharp practice, knavery, jugglery, concealment, guile, doubling, duplicity, foul play, diplomacy, politics, Machiavelism, jobbery, backstairs influence, art, artifice, device, machination, plot, maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile, trick, trickery, ruse, ruse de guerre, finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion, white lie, juggle, tour de force, tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers, espieglerie, net, trap, Ulysses, Machiavel, sly boots, fox, reynard, Scotchman, Jew, Yankee, intriguer, intrigant, floater, Indian giver, keener, repeater, cunning, crafty, artful, skillful, subtle, feline, vulpine, cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent, deep, deep laid, profound, designing, contriving, intriguing, strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving, artificial, tricky, tricksy, wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy, underhand, subdolous, deceitful, slippery as an eel, evasive, crooked, arch, pawky, shrewd, acute, sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle, canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff, tactful, diplomatic, politic, polite, cunningly, slyly, slily, on the sly, by a side wind, diamond cut diamond, a' bis ou a blanc, fin contre fin, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Deception

N deception, falseness, untruth, imposition, imposture, fraud, deceit, guile, fraudulence, fraudulency, covin, knavery, misrepresentation, bluff, straw-bail, straw bid, spoof, delusion, gullery, juggling, jugglery, slight of hand, legerdemain, prestigiation, prestidigitation, magic, conjuring, conjuration, hocus-pocus, escamoterie, jockeyship, trickery, coggery, chicanery, supercherie, cozenage, circumvention, ingannation, collusion, treachery, practical joke, trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite, card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck, artful dodge, swindle, tricks upon travelers, stratagem, confidence trick, fake, hoax, theft, ballot-box stuffing, barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game, shell game, thimblerig, skin game, snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin, springe, springle, noose, hoot, bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens, cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime, dionaea, Venus's flytrap, ambush, trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom, spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery, mine, flytrap, green goods, panel house, Cornish hug, wolf in sheep's clothing, disguise, disguisement, false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes, pattes de velours, mockery, copy, counterfeit, sham, make- believe, forgery, fraud, lie, a delusion a mockery and a snare, hollow mockery, whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher, tinsel, paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels, scagliola, ormolu, German silver, albata, paktong, white metal, Britannia metal, paint, veneer, jerry building, man of straw, illusion, ignis fatuus, mirage, deceived, deceiving, cunning, prestigious, prestigiatory, deceptive, deceptious, deceitful, covinous, delusive, delusory, illusive, illusory, elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus, untrue, mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide, pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious bastard, surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated, unsound, rotten at the core, colorable, disguised, meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated, catchpenny, Brummagem, artificial, synthetic, ersatz, simulated, under false colors, under the garb of, under cover of, over the left, keep the word of promise to the ear and break it t, fronti nulla fides, ah that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, a quicksand of deceit, decipimur specie recti, falsi crimen, fraus est celare fraudem, lupus in fabula, so smooth, he daubed his vice with show of virtue.