Free translatorFree translator
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Guileful   Listen
adjective
Guileful  adj.  Full of guile; characterized by cunning, deceit, or treachery; guilty.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Guileful" Quotes from Famous Books



... sky, Fell from the high poop headlong down mid wavy waters cast. His sad face through the plenteous dusk AEneas knew at last, 340 And spake: "What God, O Palinure, did snatch thee so away From us thy friends and drown thee dead amidst the watery way? Speak out! for Seer Apollo, found no guileful prophet erst, By this one answer in my soul a lying hope hath nursed; Who sang of thee safe from the deep and gaining field and fold Of fair Ausonia: suchwise he his ...
— The AEneids of Virgil - Done into English Verse • Virgil

... commonly has heart-failure at the sight of him, he don't found no disturbances nor get in anybody's way. Throughout his wakin' hours, as I su'gests former, Bowlaigs ha'nts about the Red Light, layin' guileful an' cunnin' for invites to drink; an' he execootes besides small excursions to the O.K. Restauraw for chuck, with now an' then a brief journey to the Post Office or the New York store. These visits of Bowlaigs to the last two places, both because he don't get no letters at the post office ...
— Wolfville Nights • Alfred Lewis

... of his fevered face and his pitiful little moans and sighs; of the guileful flatteries of Ambition that had deafened her mother ears to the pleadings of her sick babe; of the brilliant theatre and the applause of royalty and of the last moments of her ...
— Second Book of Tales • Eugene Field

... happened to be a stray half-crown in the pocket of the spare oriflamme I had unfurled at my camp. Should I push on to Hay on the strength of that half-crown, draw my 8 6s. 8d., and send my clothier a guileful letter, containing a money-order for, say, thirty shillings? This would test his awfulness at finding out things, besides giving myself, morally, a clean bill of health. Or should I first walk across to B——'s ...
— Such is Life • Joseph Furphy

... case of Gonorowsky vs. Gonorowsky was called. On either side of the desk stood a diminutive Gonorowsky; Eva still plaintive, and Sadie, redly, on the defensive. Directly in front stood that labourer defrauded of his hire, that tool in the hands of guileful woman—Isidore Belchatosky. ...
— Little Citizens • Myra Kelly

... Is guileful without guile, Halting of foot and tarrying over-long; The will of Gods is strangely over-ruled, It may not help ...
— Story of Orestes - A Condensation of the Trilogy • Richard G. Moulton

... herself—troubled her, frightened her, and filled her with her first jealousy! What if this woman should tell him all; what if she should make use of him as Marion had of her! Zephas was a strong Northern partisan, but was he proof against the guileful charms of such a devil? She had never thought before of questioning his fidelity to her; she suddenly remembered now some rough pleasantries of Captain Simmons in regard to the inconstancy of his calling. No! there was but one thing for her to do: she would make a clean ...
— Sally Dows and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... my study," at last said Mr. Home to the doctor. They went. Their intercourse was not long, but I suppose it was conclusive. The suitor had to undergo an interrogatory and a scrutiny on many things. Whether Dr. Bretton was at times guileful in look and language or not, there was a sound foundation below. His answers, I understood afterwards, evinced both wisdom and integrity. He had managed his affairs well. He had struggled through entanglements; his ...
— Villette • Charlotte Bronte

... men with "Guns, Powder, Shot, Hatchets (which the Indians call Tomahawks), Kettles, red and blue Planes, Duffields, Stroudwater blankets, and some Cutlary Wares, Brass Rings and other Trinkets." In Pennsylvania, George Croghan, the guileful diplomat, who was emissary from the Council to the Ohio Indians (1748), had induced "all-most all the Ingans in the Woods" to declare against the French; and was described by Christopher Gist as a "meer idol among his ...
— The Conquest of the Old Southwest • Archibald Henderson

... "then am I some faraway cousin of Dr. Knowall when the whole tale is told: forsooth I can lead thee thither; but tell me, what shall I do of valiant deeds at the Long Pools? for there is no fire-drake nor effit, nay, nor no giant, nor guileful dwarf, nought save mallard and coot, heron and bittern; yea, and ...
— Child Christopher • William Morris

... caresses! He who yields to its enticements launches upon a whelming tide, and trusts his feeble bark among the dimpling eddies of a whirlpool! And thus it fared with the worthies of Pavonia, who, little mistrusting the guileful sense before them, drifted quietly on, until they were aroused by an uncommon tossing and agitation of their vessels. For now the late dimpling current began to brawl around them, and the waves to boil and foam with horrible fury. Awakened as if from a dream, the astonished Oloffe bawled ...
— Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete • Washington Irving

... word rose on the end of her tongue, at another it fluttered back deep within her breast. And often through her lovely lips it strove for utterance; but no sound came forth; till at last she spoke with guileful words; for the bold ...
— The Argonautica • Apollonius Rhodius

... the German "Selig" and the "sil" in our "silly," which once represented in the best sense well-being of the innocent. So our old poets talk of "seely sheep;" but as the guileless are apt prey to the guileful, silliness came to mean what "blessed innocence" itself now stands for in the language of men who, poor fellows, are very much more foolish. So Selborne has a happy old pastoral name. The fresh, full spring, called the "Well ...
— The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2 • Gilbert White

... the whole well-invented plot - until the instant of that highly dramatic declaration. It was not his tale; it was the little people's! And observe: not only was the secret kept, the story was told with really guileful craftsmanship. The conduct of both actors is (in the cant phrase) psychologically correct, and the emotion aptly graduated up to the surprising climax. I am awake now, and I know this trade; and yet I cannot better it. I am awake, and I live by this business; and yet I could not ...
— Across The Plains • Robert Louis Stevenson

... it is!" she mused uncomfortably. "Here I may not depart for fear a happy-go-lucky young man will play a tin whistle on the steps of the van, and I will not go home. What in the world am I to do with him? Are you an orphan?" she asked with guileful curiosity. ...
— Diane of the Green Van • Leona Dalrymple

... had been checked but not smothered by his companion's evident desire to say nothing concerning himself, was busy thinking of various guileful schemes with which to entrap the castaway into the disclosure of his identity. Having prepared his bait, he proceeded to ...
— The Woman-Haters • Joseph C. Lincoln

... art not a God that takes In wickedness delight 10 Evil with thee no biding makes Fools or mad men stand not within thy sight. All workers of iniquity Thou wilt destroy that speak a ly The bloodi' and guileful man God doth detest. But I will in thy mercies dear Thy numerous mercies go Into thy house; I in thy fear Will towards thy holy temple worship low. 20 Lord lead me in thy righteousness Lead me because of those That do observe if I transgress, ...
— The Poetical Works of John Milton • John Milton

... musician, Theuss, has described some guileful tortures practiced on the prisoners, which are so revolting that I dare not write them. They ...
— Napoleon's Campaign in Russia Anno 1812 • Achilles Rose

... it," said Father Payne, "that anything which makes people acquiesce in preventable evil, and see the beautiful effects of death and pain and waste, is the direct influence of the devil. It is the last and most guileful subtlety that he practises, to make us solemnly mournful and patient in the presence of calamities for which we have ourselves to thank. The only prayer worth praying in the time of war is not, 'Help us to bear this,' but 'Help us to cure this'; and to behave with meek reverence ...
— Father Payne • Arthur Christopher Benson

... may be a surpassingly fine critic, since he recks not of style. Guileful is the woman who leads her liege to the millinery and lets him choose, taking no heed of the price and the attendant ...
— Threads of Grey and Gold • Myrtle Reed

... hurrying when she hurried and slackening when she went more slowly, and stopping dead when she paused and looked round, conveyed to her a haunting sense of something sinister, and at the same time greedy and guileful, that bided its ...
— The Dop Doctor • Clotilde Inez Mary Graves

... for his large domain, he slew: 'Twas whisper'd only,—no one knew. At tale of murderous deed, his ear No startling summons seem'd to hear; Yet should some sudden theme intrude Of friend betray'd—ingratitude;— Or treacherous counsel—follies nurs'd In ardent minds, who, dying, curs'd The guileful author of their woes; His troubled look would then disclose Some secret anguish, inward care, Which mutely, sternly, ...
— The Lay of Marie • Matilda Betham

... too, to watch for her and to report. And almost daily now she had for the Elector a tale of whisperings and hand-pressings, and secret stolen meetings between the guilty twain. The Elector enraged, and would have taken action, but that the guileful Countess curbed him. All this was not enough. An accusation that could not be substantiated would ruin all chance of punishing the offenders, might recoil, indeed, upon the accusers by bringing the Duke of Zell to his daughter's aid. So they must wait yet awhile until they held more absolute proof ...
— The Historical Nights Entertainment, Second Series • Rafael Sabatini

... place, Where each one seeks with malice and with strife To thrust down other into foul disgrace Himself to raise; and he doth soonest rise That best can handle his deceitful wit In subtle shifts.... To which him needs a guileful hollow heart Masked with fair dissembling courtesy, A filed tongue furnisht with terms of art, No art of school, but courtiers' schoolery. For arts of school have there small countenance, Counted but toys to busy idle brains, And there professors find small maintenance, ...
— Among My Books • James Russell Lowell

... off rouge. We know women of that sort—the thorough-bred Parisienne. Have you ever noticed a grisette tripping along the street? Her face is as good as a picture. A pretty cap, fresh cheeks, trim hair, a guileful smile, and the rest of her almost neglected. Is not this true to the life? Well, that is the Parisienne. She knows that her face is all that will be seen, so she devotes all her care, finery, and vanity to her head. The Duchess is the same; the head ...
— The Thirteen • Honore de Balzac

... guileful hate Would not innocency spare: Bade the maiden urge her mate With the fruit his lips to sate, Nor 'scaped she ...
— The Hymns of Prudentius • Aurelius Clemens Prudentius

... he had suddenly made a great discovery. "I knew it was you I saw on the trail. Why," he added, with guileful simplicity, "you were wearing that very suit you have on now. Say, was there ever such a fool, not ...
— The Law-Breakers • Ridgwell Cullum

... not because she had lovers, but because she had other lovers than himself; exiling Ovid because of Livia, who in the end poisoned her prince, and adroitly, too; illiterate, blundering of speech, and coarse of manner—a hypocrite and a comedian in one—so guileful and yet so stupid that while a credulous moribund ordered the gods to be thanked that Augustus survived him, the people publicly applied to him an epithet which does not look well ...
— Imperial Purple • Edgar Saltus

... straight into her own room and bolted herself in. If Grandma had seen her then, she could not have helped admitting that there was as much of Robert MacDonald in the lines of the girl's face as of the guileful ...
— The Heather-Moon • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... could remember, had ever before smiled and asked Denny Bolton to "do it—for me." For one flashing instant he saw her eyes flare at his candid refusal; then they cleared again with that same miraculous swiftness. Once more the corners of her lips lifted pleadingly, arched with guileful, provocative sweetness. ...
— Once to Every Man • Larry Evans

... in her flower-like satisfaction, one bit vain; but Mary suspected herself of feeling a real thrill of tempted vanity. The form of the temptation was, however, too sweet to be rejected, and Mrs. Upton's hair was so simply done, too, though, she suspected, done with a guileful simplicity. It wouldn't look vain to do it like that; but, on the other hand, it would probably take three times as long to do; there was always the question of one's right to employ precious moments in personal adornment. "How kind of you," she murmured. "I am so stupid though. Could I ...
— A Fountain Sealed • Anne Douglas Sedgwick

... pious backworldsmen speak to their consciences, and verily without wickedness or guile,—although there is nothing more guileful in ...
— Thus Spake Zarathustra - A Book for All and None • Friedrich Nietzsche

... wife of the Goth-king, yet the Volsungs are not gone. So I come as a dream of the night, with a word that the Gods would say, And think thou thereof in the day-tide, and let Siggeir go on his way With me and the gifts and the gold, but do ye abide in the land, Nor trust in the guileful heart and the murder-loving hand, Lest the kin of the Volsungs perish, and ...
— The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs • William Morris

... to the unblemished glass, and every feature was distinctly revealed by the lamp that still lay upon the table. The glaring eye was fixed on the taller of the officers; but though the expression was unfathomably guileful, there was nothing that denoted any thing like a recognition of the party. The brightness of the wood fire had so far subsided as to throw the interior of the room into partial obscurity, and under the disguise of his hood it was impossible for one without to distinguish the features of the taller ...
— Wacousta: A Tale of the Pontiac Conspiracy (Complete) • John Richardson

... garments, and bade them set forth and depart from paradise into a harder life. Behind them, by God's command, a holy angel with a 945 fiery sword shut the gate of their blissful home of peace and joy; nor may any guileful sin-stained man ever fare thither again, for the warder has might and strength 950 who keeps for the Lord that greater life rich in glories. Yet the Almighty, our First Father, would not take away all comforts from Adam and Eve, though they had fallen away from him: but he still let ...
— Genesis A - Translated from the Old English • Anonymous

... attempt to administer even homeopathic doses of instruction, must be a master-hand to win. Once in a generation a Shaw may rise, who, by a twist of his pen, can make the public think, while he wears a guileful smile as he propounds philosophy from under a jester's cap; but even then his plays must be edited—as some of Shaw's are—of all but the most dramatic of his ...
— Writing for Vaudeville • Brett Page

... directions, still further to sound the neighbourhood. All returned ere noon, some bruised and maltreated by the stones and staves of the rustics, and not a voice had been heard to echo the cry, "Long live King Edward!" The profound sagacity of Gloucester's guileful counsel was then unanimously recognized. Richard despatched a secret letter to Clarence; and it was resolved immediately to proceed to York, and to publish everywhere along the road that the fugitive had returned but to claim his private heritage, and remonstrate with the parliament ...
— The Last Of The Barons, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... dry leaves before the blast. "When he began to weave his words, one might have deemed him churlish, nay a fool, but when from his chest came his deep voice, and words like unto flakes of winter snow, then who could with him contend?" Thus Homer of Odysseus the Guileful, thus as truly of ...
— A Victor of Salamis • William Stearns Davis

... all eagerness to undertake his mission. He reached the station at least half an hour too soon. Anyone seeing him there would readily admit that the barrister could not have chosen an agent less guileful in appearance. The very cut of his clothes, the immaculate character of his white spats, bespoke ...
— The Albert Gate Mystery - Being Further Adventures of Reginald Brett, Barrister Detective • Louis Tracy

... the blind slays Lyting; Valgard the guileful comes back to Iceland; his evil counsel to Mord; Mord begins to backbite and slander Hauskuld and Njal's sons to ...
— The story of Burnt Njal - From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga • Anonymous

... stared with amazement at this preposterous proposal. For the first time, he asked himself if the girl's honest face could be the ambush of a guileful heart; but he dismissed the doubt in an instant, ...
— The Bread-winners - A Social Study • John Hay

... a woman, because it may lead to harm; he should cherish the friendship, and beware of the harm. It is a profanation to judge of the natural effect of intimacy with the innocent or the wise and virtuous from the effects of intimacy with the depraved and guileful. Poor, sinful Tannhauser, long enslaved in the Venusberg, yearned to be free from the degrading bonds of sensuality. Utterly vain were his agonizing prayers to Venus to release him. But when, with a sudden ardor of faith and resolve, he cried to the Virgin Mary, the grotto in which he was confined ...
— The Friendships of Women • William Rounseville Alger

... his strength, and well nigh motionless, in this extremity of impotence he cast about within himself by what sly fraud (for fraud and subtlety were now his only refuge) he best might work upon the gentle Mignon to lend his kind assistance to unloose him. Wherefore with guileful words and seeming courtesy, still striving to conceal his cursed condition, he ...
— The Governess - The Little Female Academy • Sarah Fielding

... guard, Charles had an Italian guard. The wide difference in the wisdom of these princes is nowhere more distinctly shown than in the quality of the men they chose to guard them. Louis employed the simple, honest, brave Scot. Charles chose the most guileful of men. They were true only to self-interest, brave only in the absence of danger. The court of Burgundy swarmed with these Italian mercenaries, many of whom had followed Charles to Peronne. Count Campo-Basso, who afterward betrayed Charles, was their ...
— Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy • Charles Major

... a lesson, my pretty lady,' said the guileful Croizeau. 'Meanwhile, I have never seen a man in such a state. Our friend Denisart cannot tell his left hand from his right; he will not go back to look at the "scene of his happiness," as he calls it. He has so thoroughly lost his wits, that ...
— A Man of Business • Honore de Balzac

... in marble, this short verse was given: "Cajeta here, sav'd from the flames of Greece, "Her foster-son, for piety renown'd, "With fires more fitting burn'd." Loos'd are the ropes That bound them to the grassy beach, and far They leave the dwelling of the guileful power; And seek the groves, beneath whose cloudy shade The yellow-sanded Tiber in the main Fierce rushes. Here AEneaes gains the realm, And daughter of Latinus, Faunus' son: But not without a war. Battles ensue With the fierce people. For his promis'd bride Turnus loud rages. ...
— The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidus Naso in English blank verse Vols. I & II • Ovid

... Emma with guileful innocence. It was precisely what she had intended to do. "What ...
— Grace Harlowe's Problem • Jessie Graham Flower



Words linked to "Guileful" :   foxy, wily, tricksy, knavish, sly, dodgy, cunning, slick



Copyright © 2024 Free Translator.org