All 3 Uses of
beguile
in
The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 1
- I've no doubt a great many women begin that way," said his lordship, who, be it averred, did not in the least believe in the axiom he thus beguiled his anxiety by uttering.†
Chpt 12beguiled = deceived through charm or enchantment
- These were his only known pastimes, but they had beguiled his hours for upwards of half a century, and they doubtless justified his frequent declaration that there was no place like Paris.†
Chpt 20 *
- Ralph Touchett took his refreshment wherever he could find it, and he would not have forgiven himself if he had been left wholly unbeguiled by such a mistress of the social art.†
Chpt 23unbeguiled = not deceived through charm or enchantmentstandard prefix: The prefix "un-" in unbeguiled means not and reverses the meaning of beguiled. This is the same pattern you see in words like unhappy, unknown, and unlucky.
Definition:
to charm, enchant, or entertain someone; or to deceive -- especially through charm