Wile vs Bile - What's the difference?
wile | bile |
(usually, in the plural) A trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice
* Milton
To entice or lure
, "to pass the time".
(biochemistry) A bitter brownish-yellow or greenish-yellow secretion produced by the liver, stored in the gall bladder, and discharged into the duodenum where it aids the process of digestion.
bitterness of temper; ill humour; irascibility.
Two of the four humours, black bile or yellow bile, in ancient and medieval physiology.
* {{quote-book, year=1890, author=Walter Scott, title=The Journal of Sir Walter Scott, chapter=, edition=
, passage=I shall tire of my Journal if it is to contain nothing but biles and plasters and unguents. }}
* {{quote-book, year=1616, author=Alexander Roberts, title=A Treatise of Witchcraft, chapter=, edition=
, passage=He spake out of the Pythonesse'', ''Act. 16. 17.'' brought downe fire from heauen, and consumed ''Iobs sheepe 7000. and his seruants, raised a storme, strooke the house wherein his sonnes and daughters feasted with their elder brother, smote the foure corners of it, with the ruine whereof they all were destroyed, and perished: and ouerspread the body of that holy Saint their father with botches[t] and biles from the sole of his foot to the crowne of his head. }}
As a noun wile
is wila, black tree lichen (edible lichen).As an adverb bile is
even.wile
English
(Webster 1913)Noun
(en noun)- He was seduced by her wiles .
- to frustrate all our plots and wiles
Synonyms
* beguilement * allurementVerb
(wil)- Here's a pleasant way to wile away the hours.
Usage notes
The phrase meaning to pass time idly is while away''. We can trace the meaning in an adjectival sense for while back to Old English, hw?len — ''passing, transitory''. We also see it in the whilend — ''temporary, transitory''. But since ''wile away occurs so often, it is now included in many dictionaries.References
* Grammarist.comWhile away or wile away?* Common Errors in the English Language
Wile Away, While Away----
bile
English
(wikipedia bile)Etymology 1
Mid 16th century, via (etyl), from (etyl) .Noun
(en-noun)citation
citation