1540–50; < Scots Gaelic caoil (genitive of caol ) strait, sound (noun use of caol narrow)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Thy wyle Serveth of nought, so weylaway the whyle!'
From Troilus and Criseyde by Chaucer, Geoffrey
It is the moon, I ken her horn, That's blinkin in the lift sae hie; She shines sae bright, to wyle us hame; But, by my sooth, she'll wait a wee.
From English Lands Letters and Kings Queen Anne and the Georges by Mitchell, Donald G.
Thou wyle saye; euerye mã hath not leasure, and they be lothe to take so greate payne.
From The Education of Children by Sherry, Richard
It is the moon, I ken her horn, That's blinkin' in the lift sae hie; She shines sae bright to wyle us hame, But by my sooth she'll wait a wee!
From English Songs and Ballads by Crosland, T. W. H. (Thomas William Hodgson)
It is the moon—I ken her horn, That’s blinkin in the lift sae hie; She shines sae bright to wyle us hame, But, by my sooth, she’ll wait a wee!
From The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham by Burns, Robert
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
