Wile vs Weapon - What's the difference?
wile | weapon |
(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".
An instrument of attack or defense in combat or hunting, e.g. most guns, missiles, or swords.
:
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= An instrument or other means of harming or exerting control over another.
:
*
*:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=January 15, author=Phil Dawkes, work=BBC
, title=
As nouns the difference between wile and weapon
is that wile is wila, black tree lichen (edible lichen) while weapon is an instrument of attack or defense in combat or hunting, eg most guns, missiles, or swords.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----
weapon
English
Noun
(en noun)Old soldiers?, passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.
Stoke 2-0 Bolton, passage=Rory Delap's long throw-ins are a familiar weapon to the Potters' opponents but this does not make them any easier to defend against.}}