All 4 Uses of
beguile
in
Wuthering Heights
- Catherine told Hareton who she was, and where she was going; and asked him to show her the way: finally, beguiling him to accompany her.†
p. 144.3 *beguiling = charming or enchanting; or deceiving through charm
- Earnshaw sat, morose as usual, at the chimney corner, and my little mistress was beguiling an idle hour with drawing pictures on the window-panes, varying her amusement by smothered bursts of songs, and whispered ejaculations, and quick glances of annoyance and impatience in the direction of her cousin, who steadfastly smoked, and looked into the grate.†
p. 227.1
- After breakfast, Catherine insisted on my bringing a chair and sitting with my work under the fir-trees at the end of the house; and she beguiled Hareton, who had perfectly recovered from his accident, to dig and arrange her little garden, which was shifted to that corner by the influence of Joseph's complaints.†
p. 237.1beguiled = deceived through charm or enchantment
- It was a strange way of killing: not by inches, but by fractions of hairbreadths, to beguile me with the spectre of a hope through eighteen years!'†
p. 211.1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(beguile) to charm, enchant, or entertain someone; or to deceive -- especially through charm
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much less commonly, in classic literature, beguile can mean to "pass time pleasantly."