beguilt

beguilt

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English begilten, equivalent to be- +‎ guilt.

Verb

beguilt (third-person singular simple present beguilts, present participle beguilting, simple past and past participle beguilted)

1. (transitive) To make guilty; cause to sin.
   • 1791, Samuel Ayscough, An index to the remarkable passages and words made use of by Shakespeare:

     Why should I fear, I know not; since guiltiness I know not. I will not reason what is meant hereby, because I will beguilt less of the meaning.

   • 1977, Basil Davenport, The portable Roman reader:

     "Why mangelest thou a wretched man? O spare me in my tomb! Spare to beguilt thy righteous hand, Æneas! […] "

2. (transitive) To impute with guilt or fault; blame; accuse.
   • 1895, Eiríkr Magnússon, William Morris, The Saga library:

     […] for they deemed that he was long-grudging, even in lesser matters than those wherein Kalf had done to beguilt him with the king.

   • 1911, William Morris, May Morris, The Collected Works of William Morris:

     […] and albeit Einar were old, yet he threw himself into this case, and beguilted the sons of Thorgrim to the full at the Thorsness-thing.

Etymology 2

From begild.

Verb

beguilt

1. Alternative form of begilt