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ontempt or shame; to represent as blamable; to calumniate; to vilify; to defame. The best stratagem that Satan hath . . . is by traducing the form and manner of them [prayers], to bring them into contempt. Hooker. He had the baseness . . . to traduce me in libel. Dryden.

To draw by persuasion, artifice, or the like; to attract by stratagem; to entice; to allure. [Obs.] If but a dozen French Were there in arms, they would be as a call To train ten thousand English to their side. Shak. O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note. Shak. This feast, I'll gage my life, Is but a plot to tr…

Fig.: A snare; an ambush; a stratagem; any device by which one may be caught unawares. Let their table be made a snare and a trap. Rom. xi. 9. God and your majesty Protect mine innocence, or I fall into The trap is laid for me! Shak.

A snare; a stratagem; a trepan. See 3d Trepan. South.

An artifice or stratagem; a cunning contrivance; a sly procedure, usually with a dishonest intent; as, a trick in trade. tricks of the trade mean simply specialized knowledge, in a good or neutral sense. He comes to me for counsel, and I show him a trick. South. I know a trick worth two of that. Shak.…

The art of dressing up; artifice; stratagem; fraud; imposture.

Work or devices suitable to be concealed; a secret stratagem. [Obs.]

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.…

Full of wiles, tricks, or stratagems; using craft or stratagem to accomplish a purpose; mischievously artful; subtle. "Wily and wise." Chaucer. "The wily snake." Milton. This false, wily, doubling disposition of mind. South.

Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [Obs.] His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee. Chaucer.