Delilah
[dih-lahy-luh]
- Samson's mistress, who betrayed him to the Philistines. Judges 16.
- a seductive and treacherous woman.
- a female given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “delicate.”
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for delilah
Contemporary Examples
The singer Tom Jones growled hits like “Delilah” with shirts sweatily slashed to the navel.
Sir Tom is expected to sing Delilah and Mama Told Me Not To Come and Robbie Williams will perform Mack The Knife.
“It really is the same thing,” said Delilah Rumburg, who heads the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.
In the Bible story of Samson and Delilah, Samson wooed and won his lady with sweet-smelling almond branches.
Historical Examples
And into the arms and to the tender mercies of this Delilah I had given myself.
The First ViolinJessie Fothergill
To think that I was no better than a Delilah when I met you first!
The Eternal CityHall Caine
For even Delilah was a Philistine, and by her perfidy served her country.
The Wild GeeseStanley John Weyman
In old days she would have been a Cleopatra, a Theodora, a Delilah.
Sketches in Lavender, Blue and GreenJerome K. Jerome
She was bought by Grell to play the part of Delilah to the blackmailer.
The Grell MysteryFrank Froest
Delilah
- Samson's Philistine mistress, who deprived him of his strength by cutting off his hair (Judges 16:4–22)
- a voluptuous and treacherous woman; temptress
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for delilah
Delilah
"temptress, treacherous lover," 1590s, from the name of the woman who seduced and betrayed Samson in Judges, from Hebrew Delilah, literally "delicate, languishing, amorous," from Semitic root d-l-l "to hang down, to languish."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper