guile

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

GUILE, noun gile. Craft; cunning; artifice; duplicity; deceit; usually in a bad sense. We may, with more successful hope, resolve To wage by force or guile eternal war. Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile John 1:47. GUILE, verb transitive To disguise craftily.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

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