Meanings
nounwily beguily (plural wily beguilies)
plural wily beguilies
- obsoleteSomeone who is caught by their own trickery; a person that becomes trapped by their own craftiness.
- obsoleteA cunning trick, something wily, trickery.
I often hazard upon certaine outslips of my minde for which I distrust my selfe; and certaine verball wilie-beguilies [translating finesses], whereat I shake mine eares; but I let them runne at hab or nab […].
1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, Essays, III.8
Origin
Rhyming alteration of wily + beguile.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
wily beguily. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wily%20beguily
MLA
“wily beguily.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wily%20beguily. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wily beguily,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wily%20beguily.
Source: wily beguily on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.