Delilah

1. biblicalThe mistress of Samson who betrayed him to the Philistines.

   And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

   Judges 16:6

2. A female given name from Hebrew of Biblical origin.

   "Leila!" she said enigmatically. "Have you seen her?" / "I went to her flat last week with Dad—he likes her." / "Delilah is her real name, you know. All men like her. And Captain Fort is her lover."

   1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter I, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part III, 1 §, page 220

plural Delilahs

1. A beautiful, cunning and treacherous woman; a femme fatale.

   Down with this Delilah! Avaunt, O Circe, giver of poisonous feeds. To your natural haunts, ye gentlemen of the press! if bachelors, frequent your taverns, and be content.

   1840, William Makepeace Thackeray, “The Fashionable Authoress”, in The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray, volume 9, Boston: James R. Osgood & Company, published 1872, pages 341–342

   1 more example

   He shall burst the bands of this Delilah, as Sampson burst the two new cords with which the Philistines had bound him, and shall slaughter the infidels, even heaps upon heaps. But concerning this foul witch, who hath flung her enchantments over a brother of the Holy Temple, assuredly she shall die the death.

   1820, Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

   Synonyms: vamp

2. A libertine; a harlot; a woman of loose morals.

   About twenty-three years ago the town talked about Richepin having deserted hearth and home, wife and child, to devote himself to a Delilah in the person of a famous actress.

   1908 March 11, “Notes from Paris”, in Truth, page 168

   Synonyms: promiscuous woman